Elizabethtown College’s Department of Engineering prepared a special treat for students and staff before the start of Spring Break. On Thursday, Feb. 24, the department set up their Bicycle Ice Cream Churn in the lobby of the Masters Building, complete with tons of delicious topping choices and department-themed stickers for sale.
In addition to being a sweet treat before break, the event was held to help celebrate Engineering Week. The bike used to churn the ice cream was mounted to a wooden base, with the front wheel stabilized and the back wheel free to spin. The chain attached to the back wheel was also attached to a gear on the ice cream churn, which was secured to the back of the bike. Third-year engineering student Michael Petricoin explained that “when [somebody] pedals the bike, the chain turns the gear and powers the ice cream churn.” The churn was filled with an ice cream mix from Annie’s Soft Ice Cream in Campbelltown.
Janice Holsinger, a childcare specialist from U-GRO Learning Centres, provided the department with the following Ice Cream Churn Directions:
- Pour 13 cups ice cream mix into the canister (or however much fills the canister halfway), insert the paddle and secure the top
- Pour 3 inches of ice around the tub
- Sprinkle 2/3 cup rock salt on top of ice
- After 2 layers, pour 1 cup of water over the salt
- Layer ice and rock salt to the top, but not over the top
- When the tub is full, pour 1 cup water over the ice
Once everything is set up properly in the churn, the bike needs to be peddled for at least thirty minutes in order for the mixture to begin thickening. Junior Justin Brown took the first turn on the bike and spent about half an hour peddling. Then, junior biomedical engineering major Kaede Goodeliunas took over the peddling.
“It is kind of tiring to be peddling this much,” Goodeliunas said, who is also an avid pole-vaulter with the College’s track and field team. “I have practice after this, too, but at least I’ll be warmed up!”
While students waited for the chocolate ice cream to be churned, they were able to enjoy a few scoops of pre-made vanilla ice cream with the toppings of their choice. Whipped cream and various syrups were available, along with candy toppings, including M-n-M’s, Oreos (hand-crushed by Goodeliunas, she proudly mentioned,) chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, Reese’s Pieces and more.
After some further peddling by Goodeliunas, the canister was removed from the churn so that the ice cream could be sampled. Third-year education major Mary Clay, sampled the chocolate ice cream. Clay spent a handful of years working at one of her local ice cream shops, making her the perfect candidate for a taste-test. “Overall, the [chocolate] ice cream [was] very good,” she said, opting to eat her ice cream without toppings. “I don’t think it’s quite done yet though since it is still a little bit soupy, but it still tastes really good and sweet!”
The instructions provided by Holsinger mentioned that the mixture turned out similarly to a Wendy’s Frosty, which explains the soupy-ness. “It may also depend on how long it’s peddled for, or the peddling speed,” Petricoin explained. “We’d probably be able to thicken it more if we played around with things a little bit.”
Regardless, the event was a big success, and everyone was able to enjoy a sweet treat to celebrate the department, which has long been ranked one of the best engineering programs in the state.
