Sunday, June 07, 2009

Ice cream

Many years ago when my parents came to visit me for the first time in the United States we spent some time travelling around New England. I remember being in Rockport, Massachusetts, one afternoon and deciding we needed some ice cream. My father was delighted at the selection of flavors, and happy that they let him try a couple before he bought. I suggested that he buy a small ice cream. He indignantly insisted that he wanted a large. I suggested a small would be sufficient. He got the large and it very nearly defeated him. I think he only finished it out of sheer stubbornness!

Like many other things, ice cream servings do tend to be larger over here than in the UK. This afternoon a friend described the 'small' ice cream served at our most local ice cream stand as ' the size of a child's head.' We had run into her at a slightly further afield ice cream stand, where her kids were getting a treat after a long and sweaty hike. Ours were just getting a treat. Next time we should do a hike first!

This afternoon's destination is a local dairy farm. They sell a variety of ice cream flavours, all but one (the peanut butter one) made on the farm from the milk from their own Jersey and Holstein cows. You can tell how local the product is as soon as you step out of the car - one of the other products they sell (to enrich the soil in your garden) has a much stronger smell than any ice cream could! The kids like going here for ice cream because they like visiting the cows. You can't feed them or pet them, but there's just something irresistible about these very large animals.

Here's a pic of my (small - I asked for ONE scoop but I think the girl couldn't count that high!) ice cream:
I chose to have a particularly local icecream. Not only does the milk come from the cows on the farm, but one of the other main ingredients does too. It is a seasonal flavour, not offered all year round, so it is not listed on the flavours board.

Can you figure out what flavour my ice cream was? (I removed the name of the farm from the flavours board photo, so you can't just Google it!) It's one of those things that doesn't sound like a good idea necessarily, but is actually quite good. No prizes for the winning guess I'm afraid.

13 comments:

Molly said...

I'm going with asparagus! ;)

Canoez said...

I've been told that I can't comment because I was there...

Somehow, the fragrance of cow manure and ice cream are inextricably linked in my memory. I have relatives who own a dairy farm and they would hold family reunions at the farm. The house was within about 30 feet of the barn. When I was little, I would be put to work sitting on top of the ice-cream maker to hold the dashers down in the mix as two cousins would crank the handles on the machine. The home-made vanilla ice-cream was made with raw cream right off the cooler and was unbelievably rich. Sorta like soft-serve, but outrageously good.

MMmmmm...

ADDY said...

sunflower seed?

Coding Mamma (Tasha) said...

Ah ha! Another reason why I should visit America - giant ice creams.

I'm going to go with honey, but am probably wrong, and I didn't read all the others, so that may be on it.

Anonymous said...

I guess Maple Pecan, I know you've posted before about the Maple syrup around you.

Iota said...

Calf nut flavour? I see pistachio and peanut butter on the board, and calf nuts would be an obvious type of nut to have on a farm. Maybe I've just been reading Confessions of a Pioneer Woman blog too much.

Canoez said...

Calf nut? Like Rocky Mountain Oyster ice cream?

8-0

Well That's a Good Scottish Name... said...

I have to say I do not understand where there are not more ice cream stands in the UK....maybe I hope there are some on the seaside coasts? We tried to go to get ice cream last Friday night at 7:30pm but all the stores had long since closed!! I think it's a bit nutty that they are not open past dinner time, but I understand ice cream is somewhat of an American thing in the summer time....especially things like frozen custard. yum!

Mom/Mum said...

My vote is vanilla malt...?

Michelloui said...

Ive never been good at guessing games!!!

I remember bringing my kids to the States and taking them to a home made ice cream place and seeing them alternate between delight (take a picture!) and misery (I have a belly ache...) because of the size of the ice cream.

Expat mum said...

How funny - we'll be in England in August and my kids are already salivating about a Mr Whippy 99 with monkey's blood!

Stinking Billy said...

Hi, just to let you know I'm back. ;-)

Almost American said...

Good guesses. One of them is correct :-)
Answer coming soon in another post.

Hey Billy, how're you doing?! Has the house sold yet?

Related Posts with Thumbnails