For years, the most popular flavor at the Michigan State Dairy Store was Blueberry Pie: vanilla ice cream, blueberry swirl and pie flakes. Then, 10 years ago, the store introduced Sesquicentennial Swirl in recognition of Michigan State’s founding in 1855 and began concocting flavors to represent the other Big Ten colleges.
With the help of food coloring, Blueberry Pie became Maize-N-Berry, for the University of Michigan. Good luck selling a scoop of it now.
“It went from a top-five flavor to down near the bottom,” said John Engstrom, the longtime operations manager. “All we did was add yellow color to it and renamed it. And Michigan State people have a problem buying it.”
Such is life at the ultimate cow college: The locals may not want anything to do with the in-state rival, even when its flavor tastes great, but that is why the dairy store — which has a mission to train the ice cream makers and cheese makers of tomorrow — offers options like Nittany White Out, which is vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl and pieces of white-chocolate-covered pretzels.
Michigan State, in the tradition of smash-mouth Big Ten football, typically dominates the line of scrimmage with gigantic linemen, who in many cases, have come straight from the nearby farms.
Left tackle Jack Conklin, a senior, grew up on a farm outside Kalamazoo, Mich., baling hay.
“I almost fell out of a barn one time,” Conklin said. “My buddy caught me. I was rolling off. It’s fun, though.”
Conklin said he maintained that part of his upbringing — and his 325-pound frame — with frequent visits to the dairy store.
Other land-grant institutions, like Penn State and Connecticut, have widely known dairy stores. And it is not rare for such stores to be inspired by the local football team, as the Babcock Hall Dairy Store at Wisconsin, with its Chocolate Chryst and Berry Alvarez flavors, can attest.
But Michigan State, whose founding predated and helped inspire the 1862 federal land-grant law that gave birth to many universities like it, goes all out: It offers one flavor for every Big Ten team, from mainstays like Ohio State (Buckeye Blitz, which is peanut-butter-flavored) and Northwestern (Wildcat Crunch) to newer members like Maryland (Terrapin Toffee Twirl) and Nebraska (Husker’s Sweet Corn).
Michigan State’s president, Lou Anna K. Simon, hands out scoop coupons at football games.
The store (there are actually two outlets on campus) uses fresh cream; nonfat dry milk powder, which is more typically used in candy making; and high heat, Engstrom said. There are no corn sugars in the base, and no whey.
Quarterback Connor Clark acknowledged with a little shame that he had not been to the store — whose flagship outlet, in Anthony Hall, is a couple of blocks from the football complex — since his first visit to the university.
Coach Mark Dantonio has tried and enjoyed his namesake Dantonio’s Double Fudge Fake (as well as the Butter Pecan), though his diet prevents him from eating it frequently.
As for Conklin, Dantonio said, “We let him eat whatever he wants.”
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