ALLENTOWN, Pa.— On Saturday at the Da Vinci Science Center, eight teams competed to see who could make the tastiest ice cream, with one catch.
The catch being that the ice cream had to be made using liquid nitrogen.
To handle the liquid nitrogen contestants wore thick, insulated gloves and used vats and beakers that looked straight out of a science fiction movie to handle the ingredients and preparation, while light steam from the liquid nitrogen sank in the air around their cooking areas.
The full list of teams and their ice cream offerings are as follows:
- B104: "Strawberry Patch"
- ATAS International Inc.: "Bing Bong's Banana Bliss"
- 69 News: "Wicked Cookie Crunch"
- Alvin H. Butz: "Blueprint Blend" (winner)
- B. Braun: "B. Sweet & Salty"
- PPL: "Cosmic Crunch"
- WDIY 88.1: "WDIY Double Mint Delight"
- Victaulic: "Breakfast of Champions"
The blueprint for success
Local construction company Alvin H. Butz Inc. emerged victorious with their "Blueprint Blend." Its ingredients were milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, Oreo cookies, Golden Oreo cookies, cookie dough pieces, and food coloring.
This was Butz's second win, with their last victory taking place in 2023. Ice Cream Wars was not held in 2024 due to construction at the Da Vinci Science Center.
Mark Yatcilla, a project manager with Alvin H. Butz, was one of the masterminds in charge of his team's contribution, said Saturday's winning ice cream recipe came after many were left on the cutting room floor.
"Being a construction company, you want to do something with construction. So we ended up with the Blueprint Blend. But before, we had Creamsicle (for Orange construction cones) and we had, like a dirt type of recipe, so that kind of stuff."
"We don't always sit together in the same office. Right now, we're sitting here, we're laughing, we're dancing, we're having fun, it's all that stuff outside of work. You get to talk to more people. This is— it's so much fun."Mark Yatcilla
Yatcilla said the blueberry flavor ended up coming out on top partly because it was easier to work with the physics of nitrogen, but more because "It's delicious."
Yatcilla said part of the reason he likes the event is for its team-building purpose among his staff.
"We don't always sit together in the same office. Right now, we're sitting here, we're laughing, we're dancing, we're having fun, it's all that stuff outside of work. You get to talk to more people. This is — it's so much fun.," Yatcilla said.
On top of bragging rights, which Yatcilla jokingly said is the "most important thing" for winning the contest, the company's blueberry ice cream will be served at the Udder Ice Cream Bar in Allentown.
Arrangements like this, he said, are important to his company's relationships in the neighborhood.
"Alvin H. Butz is very involved in the community. Run a lot of boards. We do a lot of charity work. We just think it's important to give back. We're privileged enough to work in the community. They give us a lot of work, and we always want to give back."
Science education
A noticeable theme at Ice Cream Wars was its science education component, which appeared to be a big hit with the younger members of the crowd.
On a small elevated stage, Da Vinci Science Center staff member Tom Prostko stood wearing a lab coat, and goggles layered over his eyeglasses, and he did a live-action demonstration for the kids in the audience.
At one point, Prostko used liquid nitrogen to shrink a balloon to a wrinkled, raisin-like version of itself, and then shook it around to re-inflate it, all without any new air entering the balloon. One child in the audience yelled an audible, "What the heck?" in response. Prostko then launched into an explanation of nitrogen's relationship to air density using Legos as an analogy.
Leo and Isabella: participant observations
Two cousins, Leo and Isabella, stood out as having an exceptional amount of fun at Ice Cream Wars.
As they were watching Prostko's science demonstration, they were still riding the high from the otters upstairs at the Da Vinci Science Center, Leo said.
"They're cool but they crap everywhere in the water," he said, as his mother asked him to stop.
Both children said the science presentation and overall science emphasis of Ice Cream Wars spiked their interest in the field.
"It did make me more interested, but I already had an interest in science," Leo said. "I get mostly As in my science classes," he added.
Isabella agreed that it had strengthened her interest.
"I've never seen liquid nitrogen before, it was interesting."
Both Leo and Isabella said their favorite ice cream flavor was the "Bing Bong's Banana Bliss" from ATAS International.
