Imagine a job where you could get paid to eat your favourite food all day. Could anything like that be real? Working as an ice cream taster, for example, sounds like an imaginary job, but it really does exist. A man named John Harrison samples many different flavours of ice cream every day as part of his job for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream. Becoming an ice cream taster like John Harrison involves education, constant learning and daily care of the taste buds.

People who want to work as ice cream tasters might start by getting a job in an ice cream shop and learning about different flavours, as well as finding out what people like to eat. Knowing how to preserve ice cream and to make it look and feel right is also very important. After high school, the next step is normally to get a university degree in an area such as food sciences.

A food sciences education will help the ice cream taster learn more about different flavours and how they interact with each other. Courses in this program are also helpful for learning about proper food handling procedures and other things that ice cream tasters need to know. Working as an apprentice in an ice cream manufacturing company is another way of learning the skills necessary for the job.

For John Harrison and other ice cream tasters, taking care of the taste buds is very important. Do you know how your taste buds stop working properly when you burn your tongue with a hot drink? Anything that affects the taste buds can influence an ice cream taster’s work. Before John Harrison goes to work, all he has for breakfast is some oatmeal with tea to drink. He has about sixty types of ice cream to try every day, and he has to make sure that his breakfast has no effect on his taste buds.

Ice cream tasters have to develop methods of having only one taste in their mouths at a time. Normally, they roll the ice cream around in their mouths and then spit it out. John Harrison starts his day with lighter flavours like vanilla and then works up to stronger flavours like chocolate. Between flavours, he eats a plain cracker to get rid of the previous taste. Sometimes, he has to sample flavours that he does not like, but he has to think about what others might enjoy.

Do you love to try new ice cream flavours? Do you have very sensitive taste buds? If so, you might want to consider becoming an ice cream taster.