Image Credit: Wendy Guan
On April 30th, Food Science and Nutrition students had the exciting opportunity to tour Moorenko’s Ice Cream Factory located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Owner Susan Soorenko was kind enough to provide the group of 24 students with a private tour of the facility. Afterwards, students learned how to make ice cream the Moorenko way, participating in each step of the process, from measuring ingredients to melting chocolate to filling pints. Minutes after the Vanilla Stracciatella, a gelato variety similar to American chocolate chip ice cream, was churned, students were treated to fresh samples.
Food Science senior Xhulio Shyti grew up on a farm with a variety of animals. Although he does not see himself becoming an ice cream maker, he is exploring careers in dairy science. He said, “It was really cool to see how [ice cream is] made and the food safety that goes behind it. I really liked that aspect.”
Soorenko attended Ice Cream University before starting her own shop in 2002. While the ice cream was churning, she spoke about the importance of egg yolks in ice cream, how to make a chocolate slurry, and what overrun is. She said, “I'm so glad everyone enjoyed it! I love doing the tours.” At the conclusion, each student got to take home a souvenir - a pint of ice cream!
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Moorenko's Ice Cream Cafe is located at 8030 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. Moorenko’s ice cream can also be found at Giant, Safeway, Whole Foods, and many other local, independent stores. For a full list of locations, please visit here.
