Made in the Valley: Fresno State Creamery

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- We take an inside look at Fresno State Creamery and the flavors that keep customers wanting more.

The machines are churning out strawberry ice cream at Fresno State's creamery.

"It's like this completely different environment. You literally learn something new everyday and it's kinda really cool," said Stefanie Santora, Fresno State Student.

Cool is right. Stefanie Santora is one of the students who helps make gallons of ice cream and process milk every week from the creamery. Milk comes in from the dairy at Fresno State and local dairies.

Instructor Daniel Avila teaches them how to turn milk and cream into something cold and sweet.

"That's something we have to teach the student staff, that we have a balanced mix. So it's balanced in sweetness and the creaminess as well. So once we get those ingredients, we mix them together, then we have to pasteurize them," said Avila.

That base formula makes up the ice cream. The ice cream is frozen down to 20 degrees inside the ice cream maker, moved into temporary freezer at -10 degrees and ultimately set inside the deep freezer at -25.

The most popular ice cream is vanilla.

"Here we use a combination of two vanilla flavors for our regular vanilla. So it would be a bourbon and Indonesian vanilla combination for our regular vanilla. And then we also process a Tahitian vanilla," said Avila.

The creamery produces 28 flavors including Vanilla, Caramel Toffee, Funky Monkey and Bulldog Tracks.

Sales from each container of ice cream go back to supporting students.

"People go crazy. Like sometimes we'll be unstacking the ice cream and they'll come stop us to ask what we have. It's pretty cool because, even like Fresno State alum still support the people who make it and the creamery," said Santora.

You can purchase Fresno State ice cream at a dozen shops across the Valley and also at the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market.