LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The NMSU Dairy Evaluation Club is a club on campus that allows students to learn about dairy products production along with skills to recognize and articulate sensory defects that are common in milk, cottage cheese, butter, yogurt, cheddar cheese and ice cream.
The team’s coach Dr. Stephanie Clark, a dairy food scientist, talked about what students should learn while being involved in the club.
“…what milk should taste like, what cheddar cheese should taste like,” Clark said. “how cheddar cheese should feel like in between your fingers, what cottage cheese should look like.”
Clark started the club last January after joining the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering as an affiliate faculty member. While being a coach to the newly started club at NMSU, this isn’t Clark’s first time being a coach as she previously coached at Iowa State and Washington State.
The club provides opportunities for students to participate in a regional and national Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest each spring. The club’s next competition will be this April in Wisconsin.
NMSU competed last year and had success placing top 10 in three categories of judging as a team. Prior to last year, NMSU had only competed in the contest three times between 1916 and 1971.
The NMSU Dairy Evaluation Club meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. in Jett Hall room 274.
If you are interested in the club, contact Dr. Clark here: milkmade@nmsu.edu
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