“We currently have Oatly as our non-dairy flavor, but it’s not from anything on our farm; we just buy that base,” Hill said. “The initial thought was, ‘How can I make a milk base with something that is plant-based from here?’”
Hill went through various versions of non-dairy options, such as using oats or nuts, but with limited crop space and the desire to make an allergen-free option, these weren’t ideal.
“Then I remembered that Delaware is the number one producer of lima beans in the nation,” Hill said. “We don’t grow them necessarily on campus, but we can get them locally. I thought maybe we could make legume milk and freeze it to use as an ice cream base.”
Creating a non-dairy frozen dessert base is an ambitious project for one student, so progress is slow. Hill explained that companies have specific food scientists to focus on the fats and other scientists to focus on sugar contents, especially because it is difficult to mimic milk fat. However, Hill is confident that she is laying the groundwork for future food science interns to continue her research.
“Hopefully, I can leave behind a skeleton recipe, so that future food science interns can continue working on it,” Hill said. “I like the idea of making it a collaborative effort and it really being a part of the UD food science.”
Building on her interests in food safety practices, Hill is also doing a separate independent project with Adrienne Shearer, assistant professor of food science, looking into how cottage food establishments can maximize food safety practices when selling food products out of a home.
Her research with Shearer looks into the varying state laws and regulation around these establishments and developing surveys to send to the Department of Public Health, Department of Agriculture and the Cooperative Extension for each state and territory to collect more data about food safety practices in these establishments.
“Food safety is such an important topic that we as UD food science students are pushed on a lot,” Hill said. “We definitely understand, even from freshman year, how important food safety is because our professors have worked in the industry.”
Hill involves herself with the college in any way that she can, taking on roles as an ag ambassador giving tours to prospective students, as well as working as a Blue Hen Flock Intern shuttling real blue hens to and from Delaware Stadium on football game days.
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