ICE CREAM DIPLOMACY HUSKEYS ARE SWEET TEACHERS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Janet and Glen Huskey have lived all over the world and witnessed the barest of conditions, but they're still talking about their most recent trip to Ukraine, where they were introduced to birch tree juice and chocolate-covered cottage cheese bars.

``They milk the birch trees to make juice much like we tap maple trees in the United States,'' said Janet Huskey from her comfortable Valencia home. ``It tastes a little sweet. They think it's wonderful. It's really primitive in some ways.''

The Huskeys know about primitive. As volunteers with an organization that educates struggling and underdeveloped countries on technological advancements - dairy and food quality control, in their case - they recently toured dairy plants in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.

Food technologist Glen Huskey, 70, who retired from the ice cream giant Baskin-Robbins in 1998 and decided to use his knowledge of food quality control and analysis to improve conditions in countries that are still struggling after breaking free from Soviet rule.

The International Executive Service Corps, based in Connecticut, has 12,000 specialists and professionals who volunteer to help small- and medium-size businesses across the world become more efficient and competitive.

Similar to the Peace Corps, except more focused on business, the IESC is funded through private donations and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

``The Huskeys are helping carry out foreign policy,'' said Kathleen Failla, IESC's director of communications and public affairs. ``They're helping Ukrainian businesses get on their feet to help stabilize the economy.''

For example, while his wife helped improve the marketing end in various dairy plants, Huskey evaluated the operations in the factory in Cherkassy, south of the the capital of Kiev.

``Glen reworked their ice cream mix formulas in Uzbekistan to make it more cost-efficient,'' Janet Huskey said. ``He taught them to reformulate it with less fat. They're very frustrated. They know there's a better way, they just need someone to show them.''

Janet, 69, a retired librarian, and her husband have lived in Japan, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia and have raised three children. Now a grandmother, she said the Ukrainian people are bright and very interested in how Americans live.

``They're very frustrated, particularly the young people. But they're very curious about how things are in America,'' she said. ``They always want to know if we live in our own house.

``They always ask, Do you have a picture of your house? They mostly live in apartments. And they're very interested in if you've had a wedding in the family recently.''

Glen said the journeys are as much about embracing different cultures as they are about furthering the economies in countries with emerging democracies.

``Ukrainians take care in their appearance. They dress very well,'' he said. Women and men in the streets, they may not have a lot of outfits but they always try to look real sharp. And all the women wear fur coats.''

Clearly, the Huskeys are game to try new things. The birch juice, the chocolate cottage cheese bars - ``60-gram bars, definitely interesting,'' - and the transportation are not your average American fare.

Janet - no wilting flower, as she has climbed Australia's Ayers Rock and snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef - remembers an intense, slightly comical journey from Armenia to the former Soviet republic of Georgia last winter.

``Yes, we've had some adventures,'' she said. ``We were heading to the Georgian border in this old Russian jeep. It was way below zero and we were bundled in layers and layers of clothing. We stopped for a pit-stop and, well, once I got down, I couldn't get back up. All those layers of clothes in the freezing cold.

``It was really very funny. But we found Ukraine to be very encouraging,'' she said. ``We would welcome the opportunity to return and work with the fine people.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Glen and Janet Huskey of Valencia look over some mementos of their business-improvement trip to Ukraine.

(2 -- color) Janet and Glen Huskey stand with one of their Ukrainian hosts at a birch juice factory, where the pair taught ways to make the operations more efficient.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer