As National Ice Cream Month gets underway, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle celebrated by promoting the Ice Cream Trail at Flayvors of Cook Farm in Hadley this week. Despite the rainy weather, attendees were excited to try ice cream produced from the milk and cream of the Cook Farm herd of over 60 dairy cows.
For the last three years, the Ice Cream Trail has helped promote ice cream stores that use Massachusetts milk and cream in their recipes.
“It is a little bit unique because we have about 115 locations now on the trail. Many of them are dairy farms, and others are ice cream stands that you can find across the state,” Randle said. “Really the priority was to be able to promote and recognize those ice creams that are being produced with Massachusetts milk and cream.”
As the summer months continue, Randle hopes the Ice Cream Trail will provide an economic boost to local businesses.
“Certainly agro-tourism is an important part of our local economy and to local communities.” she said. “It’s bringing consumers to the farm, where they’re not only tasting delicious ice cream, but they also get to see the baby calves and interact with the cows on the farm, and learn more about what it takes to produce local dairy products.”
When it comes to Flayvors of Cook Farm, the idea of ice cream production was a family enterprise.
“The ice cream business started in 1998 when my son came back…my wife had the idea of having the ice cream stand,” owner Gordy Cook said. “In my mind, we were gonna have a double-wide trailer and pop a few holes in it and move on, but my wife had a more grand plan, and we have this poster-beam building that people seem to love.”
Cook likes to feature his cows front and center, even having two ice cream flavors named for two of his cows.
“When we started, we had a farm sign with two cows on it. One of the cows was called Cook Farm Flip Inez and the other one was Recordridge Ginger," he said. “The Ginger ice cream is a ginger flavor and the Inez ice cream is a coconut-based almond with chocolate pieces.”
Many farms feature specialty flavors, like Flayvor’s famed Hadley Grass made with local asparagus. While Randle enjoys trying some of the unique flavors, like last year’s dill pickle ice cream, Cook is a fan of the classics.
“Orange pineapple is always a favorite of mine, but there's so many to pick from that I have many favorites,” he said. “Ice cream is good, even on a rainy day.”
Both Randle and Cook encourage people to visit stops along the Ice Cream Trail, both for fun and to help support local small businesses.
“Being able to support local dairy farms also extends into the local communities and local economies, and that’s really what it’s all about,” said Randle. “When you visit a local ice cream stand, you’re supporting local communities as well.”
The Ice Cream Trail has around 115 locations across western Massachusetts, including Herrell’s in Northampton, The Apple Place in East Longmeadow, and Mt. Tom’s Homemade Ice Cream in Easthampton.
