UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Birthday Cake makes its debut as the 150th anniversary flavor at the Creamery this week, Tom Palchak, who has served as manager for more than 20 years, gave some insight on the decision making behind a new ice cream.
“Some of the things we’ll consider are whether the idea of the flavor corresponds to the taste, the availability of ingredients and whether we can afford to do it,” Palchak explained.
Getting an ice cream flavor just right can be incredibly challenging, he said. “When you get a flavor like Birthday Cake, it’s very easy to make it too sweet.”
Though the staff has had plenty of experience in developing new flavors — the Creamery will often create four to six new flavors during the course of a year — the effort can often be painstaking to get it just right.
In the case of Russ “Digs” Roseberry, a strawberry ice cream with black raspberry, raspberry sauce and dark chocolate that honors women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose, it took two years of trial and error to perfect the flavor, according to Palchak. “We were messing with it right up until we started production.”