University of Minnesota celebrating 175 years with signature ice cream flavor

Something sweet is in the making at the University of Minnesota.

The university is celebrating its 175th anniversary with a new signature ice cream flavor called North Star Apple Crisp, combining apple crisp flavors with a swirl of aronia berry.

"It's got the crumble, it's got a little tart from the berry, everybody likes the cinnamon and apple," U of M Pilot Plant Technical Manager and food scientist Mitchell Maher said.

The flavor was selected from nearly 500 ideas submitted by the public. Heather and Paul Wright of Wright Farms in Hutchinson, Minnesota, submitted the winning idea.

"It was just a cool experience. I mean, we just submitted a story, an idea, and the university really knocked it out of the park when they mixed it all together," Heather Wright said.

The ice cream recognizes Minnesota's dairy industry and pays homage to the university's apple breeding program. The Wrights also added a personal touch: a swirl made with aronia berries. They run Minnesota's largest certified organic aronia berry orchard.

"It just had to have a swirl of aronia berry inside there to kind of really put that finishing touch on the idea," Paul Wright said.

North Star Apple Crisp is produced at the university's food processing center on the St. Paul campus and was released Monday.

"We made one full production run and it seems like we're about half sold out already," Maher said.

With demand already high, the scientists who helped bring the Wrights' idea to life are preparing to make more.

"We're already looking at the inventory and going, oh boy, time to get another batch rollin'," Maher said.

The ice cream is available for purchase at the meat and dairy salesroom on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus.