Chocolate, strawberry, bittersweet mint -- even in late October, people line up out the door and around the block to get one of our favorite treats, ice cream.

Because of the University Creamery, ice cream has a special place in the hearts of all Penn Staters.

It's loved so much that 225,000 gallons of the 110 flavors of Creamery ice cream are made each year, which is equivalent to about 2.2 million dipped ice cream cones, said Tom Palchak, manager of the Creamery.

Creamery ice cream begins as a blend of fresh milk and cream with some sugar and stabilizers, which give the product its smooth texture.

Vanilla extract, imported from Madagascar, is added to the mix and then milk powder is added to increase the consistency and texture of the ice cream, Palchak explained.

Palchak said that in the blending stage, the mix is pasteurized for 25 seconds at 175 degrees Fahrenheit, removing harmful bacteria. The ice cream is then homogenized to reduce the size of milk-fat globules.

If these milk-fat particles were not homogenized, a crumbly, almost butter-like product could result, he said.

One of the keys to making ice cream is having the small fat globules uniform in size throughout the mix, Palchak added.

The ice cream mix is cooled back down to 36 degrees for 24 hours, at which point the background flavors -- vanilla, strawberry, mint, etc. -- are added to the mix, he said.

Palchak explained that after the first freezing process, any flavor swirls and/or fruits, nuts or candies are added to the semi-frozen ice cream, and the second round of freezing takes place.

In this stage, the now-flavored mixes are frozen for 24 hours at a temperature lower than 30 degrees below zero. This freezing step transforms the water in the ice cream into very small crystals, so that the consumer cannot detect any water in the product, he said.

Palchak said at this point, the ice cream is shipped to all locations on campus. This is because the Creamery does not have enough capacity to sell outside of University Park and they do not wish to compete with local dairies.

"We don't believe it's a good decision to compete with all the very good ice cream and milk plants in the state," he said. "Many of the local dairy plants come to Penn State and recruit food science students, so it's not good to actively compete."

Even though the ice cream is only sold on campus, Palchak explained that rumors of the ice cream not being certified by the Food and Drug Administration are not true.

No food product could be sold, even on campus, that did not meet government health standards, he said.

Although the ice cream is readily available on campus, Palchak warns against having too much ice cream.

Ice cream "is a product that has nutrients, but it is intended to be a dessert, not a meal," he said. "The key is the age-old adage from your mother or grandmother: all things in moderation."

Palchak explained that fats contribute to the caloric content of ice cream, but the inclusions -- candies, nuts, fruits, flavor swirls and toppings -- have more to do with the calories and fat content of the ice cream.

One Penn State researcher, John Coupland, associate professor of food science, is working to add omega-3 fatty acids to ice cream. These fats would replace the traditional milk-fats in ice cream and help to reduce the amount of saturated fats in people's diets.

Currently, both strawberry and vanilla flavors have had these fats added and are being sent to Harvard University for clinical tests, Coupland said.

The biggest challenge for Coupland has been developing the product so the added fatty acids don't change the taste of the ice cream, which would result in a fishy taste if they are allowed to oxidize within the ice cream mixture, he said.

Coupland is hoping that adding health benefits to common food products is a good approach to helping people make better food choices. In the future, more foods will be altered to deliver health benefits besides normal nutrition, he said.