What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A doctor? How about an ice-cream taster? Yes, there really is a job where you can get paid to taste ice-cream. Just ask John Harrison, an"Official Taste Tester"for the past 21 years. Testing helps manufacturers to be sure of a product's quality. During his career Harrison has been responsible for approving large quantities of the sweet ice cream--as well as for developing over 75 flavors  . Some people think that it would be easy to do this job: after all, you just have to like ice cream, right? No--there's more to the job than that, says Harrison, who has a degree in chemistry. He points out that a dairy or food-science degree would be very useful to someone wanting a career in this"cool"field. In a typical morning on the job, Harrison tastes and assesses 60 ice-cream samples. He lets the ice cream warm up to about 12degF. Harrison explains,"You get more flavor from warmer ice cream, which is why some kids like to stir it, creating ice-cream soup." While the ice cream warms up, Harrison looks over the samples and grades each one on its appearance."Tasting begins with the eyes,"he explains. He checks to see if the ice cream is attractive and asks himself,"Does the product have the color expected from that flavor?"Next it's time to taste! Continuing to think up new ideas, try out new flavors, and test samples from so many kinds of ice cream each day keeps Harrison busy but happy--working at one cool job. What is John Harrison's job?
An official. An ice-cream taster. A chemist. An ice-cream manufacturer.