Navy Ice Cream "Tops" Say Sampson Bluejackets
Sampson, May 12- The Sampson Naval Training Center's "Ice cream industry" received an overwhelming vote of confidence in a poll recently conducted among the bluejackets stationed here. The boys voted their own "homemade" ice cream as "tops" thereby paying particular tribute to Commander Joseph F. Deegan, USNR, of Perth Amboy, N.J., the Commissary Officer at Sampson.
Each week in this nations huge Naval Center, 1400 gallons of ice cream are turned out to tickle the palates of more than 35,000 men daily. Each gallon is whittled down to 32 portions, which means a portion of ice cream at Sampson is a heaping amount of ice cream. Actually, the ice cream is made over a period of three days in each week, with Navy cooks working this tasty job from two-and-a-half to three hours daily..
The Sampson cream is superior to that purchased outside in at least two respects. First, the average butter fat content is exceptionally high, being at least 12 percent. Second, the constant analysis of Sampson's ice cream shows that the bacterial count is lower than the average brand. Tests to maintain this high standard are periodically made by the Center's Medical Department which examines the mix from which the ice cream is made, as well as the finished product.
Most unusual is the especially designed ice cream cup filling machine exclusively used at Sampson. This machine automatically fills 7200 paper cups with the ice cream per hour, the machine pumping into three cups simultaneously. As each cup leaves the machine, a round paper disk is placed over it as a cover.
The paper cup used in serving ice cream at Sampson is not only sanitary, but more convenient than the customary paper wrapper for ice cream bricks. These cups are conical, and by using such paper cups the bluejacket need only hold the cup in his hand for a few seconds, and the heat emanating from the hand loosens the ice cream which slides onto the plate or tray in the conical shape, untouched by human hands.
According to Commander Deegan, the use of the paper cups is not restricted to ice cream alone, but they are in wide use in other phases of food serving at Sampson. This is true, he stated, not only because of sanitation and practicability, but because "we have thereby eliminated added dishwashers and the danger of chipped cups -- a very important item in caring for the feeding and health of our nations fighters."