FAQs

Our ice cream is sold at our retail store within the Food Sciences Building, The Bookstore, The Gentle Doctor Cafe, Sparks Cafe, and these four convenience stores around campus.

We source our milk from two different places. For ice cream, we use pasteurized, homogenized milk from Anderson Erickson and for cheese we use pasteurized, non-homogenized milk from Picket Fence Creamery. Since the ISU Dairy Farm has an all or nothing contract and due to building limitations, we are unable to source milk from within Iowa State University. 

Store hours can be found here: https://new.creamery.iastate.edu/hours. 

Our cheese curds are small, bite-sized pieces of fresh cheddar cheese. This cheese has not been aged, so it has a more mild, buttery taste than our aged cheddar. The texture is also notably different and can produce a squeaking sound when bitten. Since the moisture content is also higher in cheese curds than in aged cheese, they are only good for two weeks. Come get some while they last!

Our cheese curds are best if eaten within two weeks of production. This date is listed on the price tag.

Our waxed cheeses have a shelf life of approximately 9 months. The 'sharpness' will continually increase as it ages.

We make all of our products (ice cream, cheese, and ice cream sandwiches) in the same shared facility. We follow thorough cleaning and sanitation procedures, in addition to verifying our procedures with allergen swabs.

Yes! All of our cheeses are lactose free. 

Almost all cheese (except cottage cheese and pasteurized process cheese) are naturally lactose free. Some lactose is removed when the whey is drained during cheese making. The lactic acid bacteria cultures used to make cheese convert the residual lactose in cheese to lactic acid within 48 hours.

The cornerstone of ISU's 4th creamery was laid for the Dairy Industry Building (now Food Sciences Building) in 1927. Until 1969, milk, butter, ice cream, and a variety of cheeses were made in this building. Our current facility opened in 2020, as ISU's 5th creamery. 

Our aged cheeses are cut into Cyclone shapes to represent ISU and hand-dipped in wax to seal in the moisture and keep out oxygen (in contrast to traditional plastic packaging). 

The natural espresso flavoring contributes 6mg/scoop and the chocolate espresso flakes contribute less than 1mg/scoop, for a total of about 7mg/scoop. For reference, a standard cup of coffee contains about 95mg of caffeine.