Clemson’s Best Ice Cream sales benefit college students
Clemson, SC - Contributions from sales of the specialty ice cream named for Clemson University have exceeded $12,000 for the school’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, brand officials announced today.
Clemson’s Best Gourmet Ice Cream™ exists in large part to support South Carolina’s agrarian heritage, said project manager Scott Pigeon, of Clemson University. “Every time you purchase a pint of ice cream, we provide opportunities to college students passionate about agriculture,” he said. To date, Clemson’s Best™ ice cream purchases have contributed $13,100 to CAFLS.
Ice cream money donated to the university goes to the CAFLS Advantage program, which promotes learning beyond the classroom. Opportunities include undergraduate research, on-the-job training and participation in summer camps. Students also can enroll in study-at-home programs — mostly during spring break — that expose them to South Carolina business experiences in food processing, packaging, agribusiness and natural resources. There’s also a study-abroad component that allows students to learn farm practices in Australia, animal science in Germany and France, and crop diversity in Sri Lanka, an independent island nation near south Asia, where large numbers of the population are hungry and malnourished.
CAFLS students have benefited from ice cream sales since April 2018, when Clemson’s Best™ first debuted. Highlighting family farms is equally important, Pigeon said. Four South Carolina farmers contribute the milk, fruits and nuts found in Homemade Vanilla, Strawberry Shortcake, Caramel Butter Pecan and Peaches –N-Cream. Sources close to the brand — a Certified SC product — have hinted at the summer release of a fifth flavor.
Farm families involved are Hickory Hill Farm in Edgefield; McLeod Farms in McBee; and Titan Farms, and Yon Family Farms, both in Ridge Spring.
Clemson’s Best™ is considered a super-premium ice cream, meaning that it’s made with 16 percent butterfat — more than most national brands. For more information or to find where the ice cream is sold, visit www.clemsonsbest.com.
