CAZENOVIA — In May, Cazenovia High School (CHS) students in Sara McDowell’s advanced foods course collaborated with Nelson Creamery to create a signature ice cream flavor for the summer season.
The new flavor, Rainbow Fudge Fiesta, features chocolate ice cream, rainbow sprinkles, a fudge swirl, and brownie pieces.
Working in teams, McDowell’s students were challenged to develop unique flavors based on a list of criteria and available ingredients provided by the creamery.
With help from other faculty members, McDowell reviewed video presentations submitted by each team and narrowed the options down to Bess Johnson and Amelia Cashatt’s Rainbow Fudge Fiesta, Finn Worthington and Avery Cashatt’s Coral Reef Crunch, and Ben Bianco and Fletcher Litera’s Patriotic Party Pop.
The three finalists were submitted to Nelson Creamery, which presented the flavors to its board and held a customer vote to select the winner.
According to McDowell, Johnson and Cashatt are both seniors. Johnson will attend the University of Connecticut in the fall, and Cashatt is headed to SUNY Geneseo.
This is the second collaboration between McDowell’s classes and Nelson Creamery. In 2021, Ben McPherson and Wyatt Hartley’s Mean Green Machine was named the creamery’s signature summer flavor.
McDowell’s advanced foods is a follow-up course to food and nutrition, which focuses on kitchen safety, sanitation, safe food handling, measuring, using kitchen equipment, healthy substitutions in meal preparation, and reading and executing recipes independently.
In advanced foods, students continue to practice and develop those skills, test their time management, and execute more difficult recipes.
“Instead of reading and executing one recipe, they may be [asked] to execute two to three recipes and ensure that they are all ready to be served at the same time,” said McDowell. “They also practice the skill of creating effective grocery lists and [learn] how salt, fat, acid, and heat all play an important role in a dish.”
The course culminates in “Chopped Challenges,” where students are presented with a bag of ingredients and tasked with combining them to create a delicious dish.
“Sometimes the ingredients are ‘easy’ and pair well together, but I’ve been known to throw in a can of sardines or other unfamiliar ingredients to challenge their abilities,” McDowell said. “They have a very strict time limit to prepare a dish with no recipe. Judges come in at the end [and] taste dishes prepared by each kitchen, and a winner is chosen. This really tests their ability to use all the skills learned through the two classes. It is also a way to simulate a real, practical life situation. How many times do we come home and consider what we can make for dinner with [the] ingredients we have on hand?”
McDowell is CHS’s family and consumer science (FCS) teacher. In addition to advanced foods and food and nutrition, she teaches child development and parenting, family relations and partnerships, and a required eighth grade exploratory FCS. She also teaches teachers for tomorrow, a course designed for aspiring educators or individuals considering a career working with children. Students have coursework with McDowell while also participating in an internship at Burton Street with master elementary school teachers.
“When I tell someone that I am a Family and Consumer Science teacher, the response is often a blank stare,” said McDowell. “I then explain it is the ‘new name for home ec,’ which typically sparks a response. Many people think that these classes aren’t offered anymore, but they are!”
According to McDowell, FCS courses help students build universal life skills that are needed regardless of whether they pursue trade school, attend college, or enter the workforce directly.
“We all have to eat, we all have to manage our homes, [and], most importantly, we all have a family,” she said. “We may choose to have a partner or spouse in the future. Likewise, we may choose to become parents. Can we communicate effectively with our family members, spouse, partner, or child? Can we deal with conflict with healthy strategies? How should we spend time with those individuals? What are healthy relationship behaviors with all the groups listed above? . . . Many think that FCS — or home ec — is about laundry, sewing, and food. Sure, those are all part of what I teach, but it is about so much more. FCS has matured a great deal over the years. It’s been my passion since I was in high school [and] decided to pursue a degree in FCS education. Offering these courses to my students gives me immense joy. I am extremely thankful that the administration, parents, and Cazenovia businesses like Nelson Creamery continue to see value in FCS.”
To learn more about CHS and its course offerings, visit cazenoviacsd.com/highschool.
Nelson Creamery is located at 2836 US Route 20, Cazenovia, and operated by the Cazenovia Lodge No. 616, Free & Accepted Masons. For updates on the business, visit facebook.com/nelsoncreamery.
