Strawberry picking has been a wonderful tradition for me and mom since I was a little girl. For many years we went to Oranacha Farm in Clifton Park where we could get some of the most delicious bright red strawberries. Our reward for all of our hard work would be the frothy strawberry lemon cooler they made in the quaint little shed on the property from their fresh strawberries and just squeezed lemons. It was summer in a glass. When the farm closed many years ago, we were on a mission to find a good replacement and Bowman’s Orchards was it! The strawberries in their fields are so wonderful, sweet and perfectly ripe it’s hard to pick them without eating more then you save. What’s even sweeter is our reward has gone from a “strawberry cooler” to “homemade ice cream”- upgrade!! After we picked 12 pounds of strawberries, (I use the term “we” lightly because this adventure usually consists of my mom pointing to “the best” strawberries and I get to fetch them☺) we headed in to check out the ice cream selection. Now I have had their ice cream before and it’s out of this world. The flavors I usually get are some combo of the Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie or Cider Donut which has chunks of their homemade donuts mixed in! I know, I know it’s not even right it’s so good! I was determined to get 2 out of the 3 aforementioned flavors until I saw a new summertime treat that I Had. To. Have!
Strawberry Shortcake ice-cream made from just picked strawberries, pieces of pound cake and cake batter all swirled into their frozen homemade concoction. These were no small bits and pieces either. There were huge chucks of cake and strawberries that made this the ultimate picking reward. The creaminess of the ice-cream combined with the fresh strawberries was such a nice balance….then to get a bite of the pound cake as an added bonus was just SO good.
The other flavors mentioned above are really “out of bounds” good too! The Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie have chucks of pie crust in them and the spices used in both are just so rich and wonderful. I say head on over this summer for the Strawberry Shortcake then in the fall, try some (no, all!) of the other flavors I mentioned because you won’t be disappointed. Pick up some apples too!
Bowman orchards was purchased in 1952 and is a family run business with 4 generations currently working at the farm. Their claim to fame are apples and they offer over 60 varieties but they also offer peaches, many types of berries and vegetables as well.
Bowman Orchards is located at 141 Sugar Hill Rd in Rexford, NY. To follow me on my culinary adventures, please visit www.JenniferSavino.com and “like” me on Facebook and Twitter.