Add in one more reason to love Pete’s Produce, the sweet corn stand and local produce market along Route 926 outside of West Chester. Owner Pete Flynn recently purchased a large wooden barrel ice cream maker, and he and his staff are now churning daily, providing the perfect treat for those who stop in at the open-air market.
The ice cream is being served directly out of the ice cream maker, which sits on its own cart. Manager Hillary Sculthorpe explained, “we prep the fruit, throw it in with two gallons of whole milk from Baily’s Dairy of Pocopson.” The wooden barrel is packed with ice and salt and the process takes about 20 minutes to churn the ice cream on cool days, and up to 45 minutes to churn on the most humid days.
It was a humid afternoon when I stopped by with my son, and Hillary and Danni Pinzone had just made a fresh batch of peach apricot ice cream, and we were fortunate to sample some right out of the maker. The ice cream was soft and delicious, with the tanginess of the peach and apricot blending beautifully with the rich whole milk.
“Ideally, we’ll make a different flavor every day,” Hillary said. Their plan is to use fresh produce that’s in season and experiment throughout the year. When asked what flavors they are looking forward to trying, Hillary and Danni both started tossing out their ideas, which included blackberry, lavender, and basil flavors. It was plain to see that the two managers were having as much fun making the ice cream as we were having eating it. So far, in the first week of experimenting, they’ve been mainly playing with peaches.
As we enjoyed our ice cream and chatted, Pete himself stopped down to greet us, and explained he has always been interested in making ice cream. “I’ve always thought if I didn’t have a sweet corn stand I would have an ice cream stand,” he said. “I was at a small market in Lancaster where they had an ice cream maker. Some Amish kids were eating fresh ice cream at 10 in the morning, and I thought we should try this!”
“I’m looking forward to making sweet corn ice cream,” Pete continued. “But so far, the peach ice cream has been my favorite.” As he was handed a bowl of the peach apricot, Pete looked surprised at how much ice cream was in the bowl, but then smiled and said, “we’re making it fresh each day, so at the end of the day, we have to eat it all!”
The ice cream costs $2 for a medium and $4 for a large, and will be a different flavor each day. Fresh produce just coming into season includes eggplant, squash, blueberries, tomatoes and certain types of corn. Check out more at Pete’s Produce.
Find Pete’s Produce at 1225 East Street Road in Westtown.
Photographs credited to Jim Breslin.
