By Shelby Shank
Field Editor

Texas students wrapped up the semester on a sweet note through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.

Kindergarten through fifth-grade students across the state joined the monthly virtual session to meet Katie Chandler, owner of Friendswood Scoop Shop, to learn how ice cream is made.

“This session was a fun way to connect science and agriculture,” said Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director of Organization Division, Education and Outreach. “Students learned how ingredients from Texas farms come together to make something as delicious as ice cream. Farm From School is all about connecting students with agriculture in a fun, creative ways.”

During the 30-minute virtual session, Chandler walked students through each step of the ice cream-making process—from receiving fresh cream from local dairies to mixing and freezing the final product.

“We start by pouring the cream into the machine. We get our cream from Hiland Dairy, which sources dairy from all over Texas—from Lavaca County to Moore County,” Chandler said. “If we didn’t have our cream, we wouldn’t be able to make our ice cream.”

Chandler demonstrated the ice-cream making process. She poured 12 quarts of cream into the machine. Once the “freeze” button is pressed, the mixture churns for about 10 minutes until it reaches the right consistency. At that stage, it resembles soft-serve ice cream and then begins to harden.

Students learned how the shop owners create flavors by layering ingredients, called inclusions and variegates, like pecans, caramel or brownies. This technique is called “pulling,” where ice cream and ingredients are added in layers until the tub is full.

“One thing about ice cream making is there’s no wrong way to do it. If you forget to put in an inclusion, you can go back and mix it in and you’re good to go,” she said.

The Scoop Shop sources as many ingredients from local farmers and vendors as they can.

“I love working with our local vendors and partnering with them. We love being involved with our community and bringing everyone together,” she said.

After the ice cream is made, it goes into a blast freezer—called the “hardening cabinet”—for eight hours at -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, it’s moved to a regular freezer for another eight hours before it’s ready to scoop.

“We have to wait 16 hours before we can scoop our ice cream from the time we make it to the time we put it in both freezers,” Chandler said.

The Scoop Shop makes between 12 to 24 three-gallon tubs of ice cream daily and up to 48 tubs during the busy summer months. They always have 16 flavors available in the shop, but they’ve created nearly 100 flavors to date.

During the session, Chandler even created a new flavor—vanilla with caramel, pecans and brownie chunks—and asked students to help her come up with a name.

More information about Farm From School

This semester, students also learned about composting, pickles and crawfish.

The popular virtual program will be back again this fall. Sign up will open later this summer.

Click here for more information about the Farm From School program.

Visit texasfarmbureau.org/aitc for more information and the latest announcements on TFB’s Ag in the Classroom activities.