Mississippi State to churn out blueberry and sweet potato ice cream flavors

Mississippi State University is using one of its staple food items to pay homage to two of the state’s newest official symbols.

The university announced Wednesday that blueberry and sweet potato-flavored ice cream will hit the shelves of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) Sales Store in Starkville in 2026. The two “palette-pleasing” flavors come after state lawmakers voted to make the blueberry the official fruit of Mississippi in 2024 before following it up in 2025 with the sweet potato’s designation as the official state vegetable.

“Move over, Muscadine Ripple — to make room on the freezer shelf for two new Mississippi State-borne ice cream flavors,” a news release reads. “Blueberry and sweet potato plan to join MSU’s 11 other palette-pleasing ice cream flavors in 2026 at the MAFES Sales Store, also the home of famous MSU cheese.”

Students played a major role in turning the state symbols into churnable ice cream. Shecoya White, associate professor in the MSU Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition, and Health Promotion, said her students tested 15 to 20 variations of each flavor before landing on the shelf-ready recipe with the public’s help.

“This was an incredible opportunity to work on value-added products to meet stakeholders’ needs,” White said. “It also gave my students hands-on experience to apply their classroom knowledge to a real-world research project.”

Jhennys Paola Becerra Ossa, Kenisha Gordon, Krystell Charles, Cerissa Cooley, and Morgan Mosby were the students who helped bring the dream to pint.

While the blueberry flavor speaks for itself — promising summer sensations reminiscent of a creamy cobbler — the sweet potato flavor may elicit some doubt.

White said it shouldn’t, considering her team of undergraduate and graduate students put the flavor to the test in Vardaman, widely considered “The Sweet Potato Capital of the World.” The stakeholder sensory panel judged the flavor on qualities like visual appeal, aroma, flavor, creaminess, and texture.

Caleb Englert, a third-generation sweet potato farmer and president of the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council, was one of the stakeholders to give it an A+.

“It’s great for producers and consumers when a new sweet potato product is introduced to the market,” he said. “They are versatile, so it’s exciting to have this new addition to MSU ice cream.”

The blueberry flavor, on the other hand, saw 120 participants on campus give their stamp of approval.

Both flavors should strengthen an already strong relationship with Mississippi-based farmers. The sweet potato’s statewide production value currently stands at $82 million annually, while the botanical blueberry contributes $115 million in production value and is a staple of the state’s horticulture industry.

“Blueberries are a delicious, healthy fruit full of antioxidants,” said Tim Goggans, owner of Sandy Run Farm in Purvis. “We farmers have our product and Mississippi State has the scientists and the technology, so there are opportunities to work together, test new ideas and get high-quality, locally made products into the hands of consumers.”