65 Degrees in December: A Trip to Ben & Jerry’s

By Michael Riegel - Guest Blogger

When we planned spending our school break vacation with my parents, we considered a warm weather location, but that required buying plane tickets at the most expensive time of the year. Having enjoyed a cold weather trip two years ago to the Poconos, we settled on a driving trip to Vermont for five – me, my wife Deborah, our daughter Sophie, and my parents.  Of course, no trip to northern Vermont can be considered without a stop at Ben & Jerry’s. We are no strangers to their offerings, and we’re pretty much willing to try anything in the ice cream food group at least once. As the trip approached, all five of us got excited for the various activities we had planned but based on the limited factory tour schedule erev Christmas (eve), we had to reconsider our departure time. Most food tours are worth getting up a little early for, right? So an ice cream tour would certainly be worth an early departure!

Waterbury VT is 360 miles from our home on Long Island and the last tour of the day was at 2:00. So we decided that a 7:30 a.m. departure (especially torturous for a 15 year old girl and her grandmother) would be in order. Let me say that everyone agreed that it was a worthy sacrifice. As it turned out, Deborah and I were very excited for the trip and getting to sample the ice cream and each of us was up by 4:30 a.m., though we independently tossed and turned for an hour before getting up, neither of us realizing the other was already awake.

As it turned out, traveling on December 24^th was an opportune choice.  We made it to Waterbury in what seemed like record time and arrived in time to catch the 12:45 tour but opted to take the 1:00 tour so we could have a lunch of, what else, but ice cream.  As we entered the visitors area we could already see the excitement of the other visitors and kids, both young and old.  The walk up to the building gives you plenty of chances for photo-ops with a Ben & Jerry’s Cowmobile and face cutouts.  On through the doors and the options increase.

We got our tickets ($4 for adults, $3 for seniors, free for kids under 12) and then proceeded to lunch.  I opted for a new flavor (New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale) that I thoroughly enjoyed and, as the only beer drinker in our group, meant I didn’t have to share.  To me, it did not have a tremendous hit of beer flavor but Deborah turned up her nose after one taste.  Deb chose Mint Chip and The Tonight Dough starring Jimmy Fallon, as she was committed to trying flavors she hadn’t tasted before. Sophie got the Mint Chip and Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and my Dad also got the Mint Chip.  I guess that makes us pretty committed Mint Chip family!  Their report was that the mint was not overly minty but that the chunks of dark chocolate were large and plentiful.  For a change of pace, my Mom went for Coconut 7-Layer Bar.  She is a big coconut fan, and really relished it.

After our scoops and browsing the artifacts and displays we headed to the tour.  Unfortunately, they shut the production lines down for the last two weeks of the year so they can perform maintenance but we got to see the movie about the founding of the company, a look at the equipment and a taste of ice cream.  The tour is replete with corny jokes about cows, ingredients and their products.  (Why do cows wear bells?  Because their horns don’t work.)

As tours go, you don’t get to see too much and it might be more interesting on a production day but the staff was very pleasant and answered a variety of questions about the company, the ice cream, and the focus on corporate social responsibility.  As we entered the tasting room, we were faced with a sign showing the flavor of the day – Broccoli Cheddar Chunk with Broccoli Ice Cream, Kidney Bean Chunks and a Cheddar Cheese Swirl.  Neither the kids or adults looked too pleased until our guide turned the sign and began handing out samples of Cherry Garcia.

Just to be up to date on the latest flavors, Half Baked is currently the Number 1 flavor, followed by Cherry Garcia, Cookie Dough, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie.  A swing through the gift shop gives you the opportunity for t-shirts, hats, magnets, mugs, glasses and more. As a bumper sticker found in the gift shop asked, “If it’s not fun, why do it?”  This tour was certainly fun – so do it!

Kashrus note: Ben & Jerry's is certified kosher by the Kof-K

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Website: http://www.benjerry.com/about-us/factory-tours
Location: Waterbury, VT

Affordability: $

Asher's Chocolate

There are three kinds of chocolate people:

1. The honest person who likes milk chocolate;
2. The snob who tells you milk chocolate is garbage and dark chocolate it the only chocolate worth eating; and
3. The anti-American types who prefer Cadbury or some other country's chocolate, like Switzerland.

As a real American, my preferred chocolate is, of course, milk chocolate. The gold standard for me has always been, and continues to be, Hershey's chocolate. No matter what people will tell you, it's the best chocolate for the taste and value. Other chocolates are good undoubtedly, but Hershey's never fails to satisfy the consumer.

Asher's Chocolate in Souderton, PA is a nice change for someone who appreciates chocolate. The milk chocolate is soft and creamy, the dark chocolate is firm but not bitter and the other "chocolates" (white and peanut butter) are delectably smooth. What makes Asher’s regionally famous are its chocolate covered pretzels and graham crackers—a perfect balance of sweet, salty and crunchy. But anyway, chocolate aside, there was a factory tour as well, of course.

 

The tour was a pretty simple tour, really not much of a tour at all actually. It was an observation corridor of two large rooms with mostly nothing to see but conveyor belts with blue covers obscuring our view of any actual candy. One belt, right next to the corridor’s window, was a full view of pretzels rolling under a milk chocolate waterfall, air dried and then under a second chocolate waterfall. This was without a doubt the highlight of the day. The kids easily watched the pretzels acquire their chocolate for 20 minutes before we headed back to candy store to purchase some chocolate.

 

The Asher’s factory candy store was, as you would imagine, packed with candy—Asher’s candies as well as some other brands. When we walked in, there was a tray full of different flavored nonpareils for sampling—it said to only take one, but I think we all went back a couple times for more since it took a while for the kids to decide what they wanted to buy as they were limited to only one thing (a difficult task in a candy store).

Overall we were very happy with what Asher’s had to offer at the store and on the “tour.” The store did have some things discounted and even sold broken chocolate covered pretzels which was a nice touch, but everything else was sold at retail prices. The variety was nice and they offered samples of anything you wanted to try.

It would have been nice if there had been someone to answer questions about the factory or even a pretzel to eat fresh off the line, but it’s clear this wasn’t a true factory tour; just a factory viewing.

One thing to note: The factory doesn’t run on Sundays, as much of central and eastern Pennsylvania doesn’t work on Sundays for religious reasons.

We knew what to expect of the factory going in, but there were still a few things that could have been done better, therefore this is a 3 out of 5 star experience. Compared to Hammond’s which provided an actual tour, a more personal video and gave things away, Asher’s left a bit to be desired. We spent less than an hour in the entire facility, so be sure to find other things to do in the area besides this factory if you are planning a trip there.

Kashrus note: Also, almost everything made in the factory is kosher and labeled as such. Be sure to check each product though.

Overall Rating: 3 our of 5 stars

Website: http://www.ashers.com/where-to-buy/

Location: Souderton, PA

Affordability: Free

Nearby Attractions: 35 minutes from Center City Philadelphia

Hammond's

Hammond's Candies are everywhere, but you may have missed them because you don't usually buy your candy at William Sonoma ($3 for a bar of flavored chocolate). As they continue expanding all over the country though, you'll likely see a lot more of them (apparently Target sells their candy now as well). The coolest part about Hammond's, by far, is how they make their product on site, by hand. The impressive operation is in the middle of dozens of warehouses in Denver and is easy to miss even though the building is easily identifiable with a giant lollipop on it.

Upon entering the factory you are welcomed in a spacious room with very little going on. It was surprising considering the factory store is the exact opposite with not an inch to move without a different candy asking you to give it a try. The room did however have the smell of a candy store--which of course instantly puts a smile on everyone's face. We were then provided a sticker for the next tour in ten minutes and hung out in the store until we were called.

As is common, we were presented a ten minute video of the history, background and current state of affairs of the company. The video was excellently produced and quite interesting--it featured actual employees including the company's energetic CEO which is always nice to see.

We then went to see the intimate factory. Factory though might be the wrong word for Hammond's since it was more of an industrial kitchen. Through a thin piece of glass with windows above into the kitchen, we could see everything happening inside--we stood 15 feet from three women pulling candy, rolling it, cutting it, twisting it into a lollipop, weighing it and finally "sticking" it! Very cool to see so close up. There were also two screens showing us other parts of the kitchen from above including some of the side rooms not included on the tour.

Two things make the Hammond's operation so impressive, as they tell you repeatedly--that everything is hand-made and that they use some of the same equipment as they've used for close to a century. The hand-made nature of the products is really cool to see, but it's hand-made to a fault in my opinion. For example, they had an employee putting different sized brittle into bags on a scale to achieve the appropriate number of ounces in the bag--that seemed extremely inefficient to me. Also, there was a person bagging and twist-tying each lollipop. I greatly respect their dedication to their employees and to their craft, but candy-making and candy-packaging are different.

The old equipment on the other hand, is just cool. It may not be the most efficient anymore, but it adds an endearing quality to the product that should not be minimized.

One unique element of the tour is that everyday they make something different in the kitchen. I'd love to go back again just to see, in person, how something else is made! It was a really unique factory experience to see that.

Then we were given broken candy canes and sent into the store. This was when the fun began. We must have said "that's too much" to each other a dozen times because we each wanted to get way too many things. For the reasons mentioned above though, the candy is not cheap, so we got a few things at retail price and then found ourselves in the broken or soon-to-expire section of the store. Between ourselves and gifts for the kids we spent close to $30, which sounds like a lot except that we got a lollipop for each kid in their favorite color/flavor, each of which was $2.50. There were also a number of things on "sale," which made them more reasonably priced. It should be noted though that although it was expensive, the product is of a higher quality than that of a typical candy store. As we checked out were told that since we spent more than $20 we received an additional bag of candy cane coffee stirrers. This filled me with gluttonous appreciation--since we had spent beyond the average consumer, we were rewarded with more candy!

One critique, though relatively insignificant. I expected some new candy samples to encourage me to try something I might like, and potentially purchase. We were given broken candy canes, but that is hardly something unique to try. I think that would definitely have enhanced the experience.

Kashrus note: Everything made in the factory is certified kosher. The store however, carries things not made in the factory so be sure to check everything before purchasing or tasting.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Website: http://www.hammondscandies.com/factory-tours-parties

Location: Denver, CO

Affordability: Free

Nearby factories and attractions: Coors

US Mint

The US Mint is an interesting "factory" since money isn't really a product, per-se. It is produced though, somewhat controversially, according to different economic theories, but that's for a different blog. Since it is produced though, we feel our tour of the US Mint in Philadelphia deserves a post on this blog as well.

As a federal employee, I used my annual leave to take off the day after Thanksgiving trusting that the federal government would continue working without me. Sadly, the US Mint in Philadelphia was not running on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We found this to be ironic considering Black Friday is a day when millions of dollars are spent by Americans, but America isn't producing millions of dollars in currency...but I digress.

Although coins were not being minted that day, the self-guided tour was still open to the public, free of charge on Independence Mall. When we arrived, we immediately noticed a sign that adults need federal IDs to enter. While Meghann, the kids and some of our extended family sat outside the mint, I ran back to the car for my wife's ID since, "I didn't think I would need it" evidently is a sufficient excuse for leaving your purse in the car...but I digress.

When you walk into the mint you enter into a foyer, which really puts you into the gift shop ostensibly to spend the money you will soon learn how is made. The tour directed is to go to the third floor via the steps or the elevator in the back of the gift shop. It is normally in poor taste to force people through the gift shop to get to the start of the tour, but it's excusable since the building is likely older than the shop or the tour. But still, there was a down escalator, yet we were directed to use the stairs or (small) elevator to go up. Most escalator operators understand the role of the escalator--it literally means to go up! It's illogical, and contrary to common sense, to send people to stairs to go up and an escalator to go down...but I digress.

The tour itself was very well done, despite the lack of a formal tour guide, a facilitator or even a friendly employee to ask questions. The entire production floor was one long corridor that doubles back on itself teaching you all about how coins are produced and how the mint works. For a self-guided tour it was pleasantly engaging even for young children. There were coins to touch and a computer that let kids design their own quarters. Despite not seeing the actual production that day, there was still a lot to see and a lot to learn. On the second floor (escalator down!) you learn about how coins were minted in the colonial era which really helps you appreciate just how impressive the minting operation is today.

That said, there was a lot I felt was left out. There were several examples of specialty coins produced for occasions or in honor of someone or something, but not much detail. The space of the tour clearly limited the opportunity to learn more. Also, the minting experience is clearly prioritized over the numismatics--of which I would have preferred more.

The gift shop (escalator down!) had more for numismatists. It was more focused on the coins than the minting. Besides being exceptionally overpriced, it had everything you'd hope to see there including large novelty coins and collectible coins. Unfortunately though, you couldn't buy a coin minted on site--which was all a visitor would expect. I understand it can't be a free giveaway since it's a free tour and federal money, but I would have gladly paid for a fresh coin made on the premises. When I asked the cashier if coins were available he sent me to a coin crank machine and said that was the only option for a clean coin—pressed into a souvenir with a picture of the US Mint in Philadelphia…no thanks.

The overall experience at the US Mint was fine. Before visiting the mint, we played mini golf at Franklin Square, so the mint was one of two stops of the day. If you do plan to visit the US Mint in Philadelphia, be sure to visit the other sites on Independence Mall, like the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, Independence Hall and/or the National Museum of American Jewish History since the Mint itself will definitely not take more than an hour of your time.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars, with low expectations going in

Website: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/?action=philadelphia

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Affordability: Free

Nearby factories and attractions: No other factories, but several Philadelphia tourist attractions (see above)

Kreider Farms

Having been raised in a kosher home, I had two kinds of friends—those in whose homes I could eat and those in whose homes I couldn’t eat. That was all good until I discovered a third category—the chalav Yisrael crowd. Chalav Yisrael is a Jewish legal term referring to all dairy products which derive from milk that has been milked under the supervision of an observant Jew. Although most observant American Jews rely on the more stringent US Department of Agriculture to guarantee all dairy labeled from a kosher animal is authentic, some people still prefer supervision by an observant Jew.

Chalav Yisrael doesn’t have a great reputation. The common refrain is that it’s expensive and spoils quickly. To be honest, I have no idea if that’s true since I walk right past it when shopping, but we recently took a trip to Kreider Farms in Manheim, PA, where they produce Kreider Farms dairy products as well as Pride of the Farm chalav Yisrael milk to see it for ourselves. We got an up-close tour of the history of the farm and a trolley ride around the farm to see the cows in action…well, the machines were in action milking the cows at least.

The day started out in the Kreider Farms Welcome Center which was a pleasant waiting room before

the tour began. We arrived about 15 minute before our scheduled tour so the kids enjoyed the conveniently placed home playground models for sale across the parking lot (we asked permission to use them, of course). When the tour began, we met our tour guide, who was exceedingly excited to give this tour—a little too excited. We then watched a nice video about the farm and heard about its history and connection to the Hershey family, of chocolate fame.

We then piled onto the Kreider Farms Tour Trolley. The kids were ecstatic to begin the 15 minute ride to the first stop. Unfortunately though, this is when the tour on the trolley went off the rails. The tour guide, who was as nice of a person as you could ask for in a guide, had way too much to say which was much too irrelevant for the audience. She clearly knew a lot about the farm and its history, but I felt like she shared every last bit of it with us, which was thoroughly exhausting.

When we arrived at the first stop, it turned out to be a drive through the cattle barn. We saw the cows come and go and then continued driving for 10 more minutes before we finally stopped to get out and see a newborn calf among the rest of the cows. I’ve seen good looking cows before county fairs, but I had never seen cows at a sizable dairy farm. This was definitely a highlight of the tour.

After another 10 minute drive around the farm, including a trip past the manure and the manure treatment facility—which was surprisingly captivating for me and the kids at least; Meghann didn’t enjoy it as much—we finally came to the highlight of the tour: the Carousel.

The Carousel is where the cows are milked—slowly and efficiently. Having been to a slaughter house before, the two sites were oddly similar. All of the cows pile into an open room and are put through a bottleneck to get to the next room. At Kreider Farms the cows are placed one-by-one onto a slow-moving carousel where a pumping machine is manually placed on each cow teat. [This is about the time I started to feel like a jerk for, on numerous occasions, comparing my wife to a cow for spending countless hours pumping her own milk into bottles for our children.] At this stage of the tour we could see the cows up close. Not the faces of the cows though, just their rumps.

The kids had an opportunity at this time to milk water out of a model Kreider Farms cow on display. That’s when the milk tasting began. Each person was provided either milk or chocolate milk—which means everyone was provided with chocolate milk since no one in their right mind would pass up 8 ounces of thick, heavy chocolate milk that coats your throat like honey. Impressively, without asking, we were kindly offered Pride of the Farm milk and chocolate milk! Absolutely delicious!

Our overall experience at Kreider Farms was good, but not great. The tour itself was too long with too much unnecessary detail and a bit too much time on the trolley. Once the tour started moving though it was a nice time for our entire family.

Kashrus note: During the tour I saw an employee wearing a yarmulke so I asked him about the kosher status of the farm. He said that everything is kosher but only the milk and chocolate milk were chalav Yisrael—interestingly, he said that was even true regarding the Kreider Farms milk, not labeled chalav Yisrael. 

When the tour was over and we returned to the Visitor Center and were told where we could buy Kreider Farm ice cream which the yarmulke-wearing man told us was kosher (not chalav Yisrael though). We went a few blocks away to a quaint establishment and prepared to order our ice cream. We noticed though that nothing was labeled kosher on any of the products. While fighting to hold the kids back while I called the Star-K (certifying kashrus organization) to confirm the status. Oddly enough, though nothing under the Kreider Farms label is actually labeled kosher, the rabbi in charge of managing Kreider Farms confirmed that everything was in fact “100% kosher.” If you do go to Kreider Farms in the future, I suggest calling the Star-K first, since I wouldn’t believe it had I not heard it myself from the rabbi in charge and the situation at the farm may have changed.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Website: http://www.kreiderfarms.com 

Location: Manheim, PA

Affordability: $

Herr's Snack Factory

Growing up in the Philadelphia area, Herr's was ubiquitous with potato chips—and snack food in general. When we arrived at the Herr's Snack Factory Tour in Nottingham, Pennsylvania, and I shared with my family my passion for making Herr's mine (the company's tag line is "Make Herr's Yours"), I discovered no one had any idea what I was talking about. Living in the Washington, D.C. area now, where Herr's products are not commonly found, this trip was especially nostalgic for me. My nostalgia was enhanced when we arrived and discovered that Herr's evidently hasn't changed the logo on their foods or their product packaging design in decades.

Upon entering the factory store I was immediately whisked away into childhood memories of eating Herr's chips and pretzels at just about every social event I had ever attended. Meanwhile the two oldest kids immediately ran into the antiquated theater to begin the thirty minute tour. The kids were obviously excited simply because there was a screen, and then Meghann came three minutes later with the youngest kid because, in hasty excitement, I had put the kid's shoes on the wrong feet, and Meghann had to fix it—I was pretty excited.

The ten minute video was a nice introduction to the Herr family and the history of Herr's. It was a bit more about the family than I would have expected, but as the video and the tour progressed you began to see their company in a different light—it is a local, socially conscious, family-friendly, religiously-oriented company. (I was pleasantly surprised to see a small pamphlet "Chips of Wisdom" tucked away outside of them factory store. "Chips of Wisdom" contains two pages written by the Herr's foods founder Jim Herr and then the entire biblical book of Proverbs.) The kids weren't too into the video...until they discussed product expansion and introduced Herr's Cheese Curls. All three kids, hilariously and embarrassingly, screamed out that those are their favorites.

Now to the actual factory tour. The tour allows you to see pretty much everything you'd want to and expect to see—namely potato chips and pretzels. We first entered the aptly named Pretzel Room. We saw the dough move along a conveyer belt and, with no twisting, just pressing, become pretzels by the tens. Ten pretzels and then ten more; every two seconds more pretzels. In one small window we could see thousands of thin pretzels going down the line. It was very cool to see, but unfortunately no pictures were allowed anywhere on the tour. Once the kids realized how many pretzels they were seeing, they became quite interested in the earlier steps of the process.

Next we saw how tortilla chips are born, or shaped in this case, from a grainy paste. They were then dressed in cheesy goodness and shipped to packaging. Then it was off to the star of the tour—the potato chip! At this point you start to really appreciate the automation and the precision of the factory. Although you are always separated from the production floor, the tour really allows you to see everything happening (of the buildings we visited along the tour at least). For the potato chips, we saw on a video how the potatoes arrived and how they were washed, peeled and cut. We saw the machines doing that work, but we didn't have a great angle to see it actually happen (unlike at the UTZ factory where you are elevated and can easily see the peeling and cutting). But that's immediately forgotten when you see FRESH POTATO CHIPS coming out 4 feet in front of you (through a window of course). One of the guides then washed her hands, suited up in gloves and a hairnet, and collected the still hot chips on a tray and brought them to for devouring. Naturally, my kids were in front of the line...and then begging for more. Lesson learned: there are two kind of people in this world—those who have had a fresh factory potato chip and those who haven't. It was awesome!

The packaging was not too exciting except for its remarkable size. The enormity of the room was overwhelming considering the number of things happening in one place. This is where you see the most people in the factory. It was still automated, but there were many people working the machines and checking for quality. Interestingly, there was one machine making sure your bag of chips has both large and small chips in it so you don't end up with a bag of all small chips or large chips—apparently they've thought of everything!

The boxing area was cool because you could see and wave to the workers close up since there was no glass barrier at this point. The storage room was massive and full of everything Herr's; they told us everything we saw would be gone and replaced within 3-5 days!

At the end of the tour, they gave everyone two free bags of chips and then we were off to the store where I told the kids they could get two things, which parents know means at least four after negotiations.

Seeing everything Herr's makes in one place was nice and effectively tested our will power. We purchased some things to try and some things we knew we'd like; the kids got cheese curls among other things. The clerks in the store were friendly and patient which was definitely appreciated.

Only one criticism of the tour and a half critique of the factory store. For more detail, in each room we stopped on the tour, there were videos with supplementary information to fill in the gaps. It was helpful, but I would have preferred a tour guide sharing that information. On factory tours I want to hear from people who know the business. We had two very young girls sharing with us some notes and tidbits they were told to remember, instead of the things they discovered having worked there for a while. The main guide said she had been there for just three weeks and was now training the second guide. They did a good enough job, and I'm glad to see the factory hiring young people, but I expected more.

When visiting a factory store we've come to expect factory store prices. Herr's prices were

all retail prices. I was surprised so I asked the clerk why it was the case, and as we came to learn about the company's values, this appeared to be a genuine value-driven decision. She explained that there are local stores all around that sell Herr's products and it wouldn't be fair to them to undercut their sales. With that understanding we gladly paid retail prices for our snack-food-filled ride home.

The Herr's factory tour was a nice experience on the border of Philadelphia and Pennsatucky. If you are traveling on I-95 passed Philadelphia, it's only an hour away, right off Route-1 just north of the Maryland border. There really isn't anything else there but the factory. The entire experience took about an hour. They require tour reservations, but they weren't full so you can probably call on the day you plan to visit. We definitely liked the tour and would recommend it for families, just be aware of its proximity to nothing else of general interest.

Kashrus note: Most Herr's products are kosher. Check each item before purchasing.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Website: www.herrs.com/snackfactorytours.html

Location: Nottingham, PA

Affordability: Free

Nearby factories and attractions: None, sadly

Celestial Seasonings - A Tea-riffic Tour!

I don't particularly like tea, but Meghann does, so upon our arrival in Denver, Colorado, we immediately went to Boulder (45 minute drive from the airport) to visit the Celestial Seasonings Factory. After visiting the factory I can definitely say I dislike tea a lot less. The opportunity to taste as many of the 89 flavors they make definitely made me rethink my feelings toward the flavored water.

Upon arrival, we received two tea bags as tickets for the upcoming tour starting twenty minutes later.

No reservations are necessary for the tour and people were steadily arriving the entire time we were there. (Note: They don't allow kids under 5 years of age on the tour—not that they drink tea anyway). While we waited for our tour to begin, we could taste as many flavors of tea as we desired (kosher consumer note: just ask for a paper cup so you don't have to use the ceramic one they will hand you). This was one of the nicest features of the already free tour. And it was at this time when I learned the most important lesson about tea I may ever learn: no matter how disgusting the tea tastes, with enough sugar or honey, every tea has potential. To be honest though, there were some better tasting teas than others. I discovered I much prefer herbal tea to "regular" tea; I also quite like spice in my tea. This led me to my second lesson: Meghann doesn't like any of the same teas as me. Every time I found one I liked I'd offer Meghann a taste and she'd tell me each time, "I'm glad YOU like it," which is wife for 'that's gross.'

When we were called for our tour, we crammed into a theater for a ten minute video. But first we were welcomed by our tour guide named Stayshine. This was the first of many things on our trip to Colorado to remind us of the state's place as the hipster paradise of the midwest (Portland on the west; Brooklyn on the east coast). Anyway, the well-executed video gave a nice introduction to the company, what it stands for, its global resources and just how successful it has been, with an appropriate amount of personal touch. We then put on our hairnets, and for the elderly and hipsters among us, beardnets, and proceed to enter the factory (no pictures allowed).

Most factories are visually stimulating and/or stimulate your palate. With the exception of smelling yeast at brewery, the nose is rarely stimulated. This factory tour was an olfactory adventure (pun intended). We first entered a storage area, but not for the finished, packaged product, just the raw and finished tea product in huge bins towering to the tall ceiling. As we were warned, every step through the storage area presented a different smell, some more easily identifiable than the others, but nevertheless producing an abundance of sensory intrigue.

After learning more about the types of tea from Stayshine who, despite her young age, knew an impressive amount about each and every tea, their source and how the company acquired them, we entered the most intense part of the tour—the Mint Room. As we all know, since mint permeates and dominates everything it encounters, mint gets its own dedicated room which figuratively smacks you in the face upon entry, immediately clearing up any congestion you might have had. Quite an experience to say the least.

We then moved into the next part of the surprisingly, relatively small factory—the assembly line. The process was almost entirely automated; there were very few workers on the floor but it was an impressive operation nonetheless.

We weren't taken to see the finished product in storage, but we were told a lot about their dominance of the U.S. market and were introduced to their international ambition. We then entered a door exiting the factory and were deposited into the factory store to purchase anything and everything with the Celestial Seasonings logo (and their iconic Sleepytime bear) including a lot, but not all of their teas.

The Celestial Seasoning's factory tour was a great experience. We learned a lot about

something we knew nothing about. The tea market is much larger than we could have imagined—1.6 billion cups of tea are consumed a year! Oddly, there was nowhere on the entire campus to take a posed picture. Pictures were understandably not allowed on the tour itself, but in the tearoom, the factory store and even outside, there was no proper signage lending itself to a nice picture. We settled for one in front of the tea—not bad, but we should have been able to do better.

Kashrus Note: All Celestial Seasonings teas are kosher. As mentioned above, you can ask for a paper cup instead of the ceramic one they hand you for tastings when you walk in.

Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Website: www.celestialseasonings.com/tours

Location: Boulder, CO

Affordability: Free

The Turkey Hill Experience

The Turkey Hill Experience is truly an experience! It’s an interactive, engaging, and craftily educational museum offering unlimited ice cream. Although I think you’re already sold on the “experience,” let’s get into some more detail.

The Turkey Hill Experience is less of a factory tour and more of an ice cream undertaking. At no point will you see ice cream being churned from milk, but you can take plain ice cream, add flavor and toppings to it, freeze it and eat it. My mouth is watering just thinking about this place again.

Let’s start from scratch. If you keep chalav yisrael, stop here. Well, maybe not. If you don’t mind not eating the ice cream, then you will still have a nice time in the interactive museum and play areas, but your experience will leave you feeling empty (from watching everyone else eat ice cream).

For everyone else, the website recommends you purchase your tickets ahead of time. That turned out to be a good idea as the Taste Lab (where you flavor and mix your own ice cream) is quite popular. If you aren’t doing the Taste Lab, you probably don’t need to purchase tickets in advance.

When you arrive at the Turkey Hill Experience, you’ll enter a parking lot with a Turkey Hill gas station (since we all know gas and ice cream are the two things which fuel America). There is a giant cow to greet you and then you essentially enter into the gift shop.

The Experience

The experience is fun, educational and tasty. Kids of all ages and adults will enjoy milking mechanical cows and producing ice cream commercials. There is a climbing area and a ball pit as well to “teach” you how to churn. You can even step into a freezer to feel what it is like to be an ice cream package. There is a lot more to do, but we don’t want to ruin the full experience for you.

It won’t be long before you scout out the UNLIMITED ice cream. Be careful if you are doing the Taste Lab though since you’re going to want to eat that customized ice cream too. There were plenty of choices but Meghann was especially happy since they had her favorite flavor Moose Tracks that day. The kids were happy since they had Fruit Rainbow sherbet, which was good for them, but everyone knows sherbet pales when compared to ice cream!

All that ice cream will leave you needing something to wash down all of that sweet sweet creamy sugar. Thankfully across from the ice cream is a Turkey Hill drink area full of fruit drinks and iced teas full of more sugar! Before you quench your thirst however, you can take the test to find a drink to match your personality. I think the results are random though. It felt like a fortune teller—odds are you like most of the drinks so whatever it tells you, you’ll be happy. Don’t let that dissuade you though. The drinks were delicious and they had most varieties available. My favorites are the lemonade fruit drink combinations (strawberry, blackberry, pomegranate and strawberry kiwi). Meghann likes just about all of the iced teas. We tried a lot of them, but nothing came close to the ones we already knew we liked. This was when we realized we no longer knew where our kids were. Not surprisingly, they turned out to be gorging themselves on…more ice cream.

The Taste Lab

Our favorite part of the Turkey Hill Experience was definitely the Taste Lab. For about thirty minutes you sit on bar stool and you get to make your own ice cream. You’ll receive a paper Turkey Hill hat upon entry which the kids will enjoy for about four minutes while we eagerly awaited instructions. The room is visually stimulating so with young kids there will be quite a bit of room management. 

Then the fun begins. You’ll get a large cup full of plain ice cream into which you’ll add a flavor from droppers. The flavors ranged from chocolate to cotton candy, all of which were appropriately labeled with a variety of hashgachos (kosher symbols). 

After mixing your flavor into the ice cream you’ll take turns going to the Inclusion Wall which had just about every topping you could ask for in your ice cream. This was definitely the worst part of the Taste Lab. Did I want sweet or salty, crunchy or chewy? The choices left me considering commandeering one of the kids' ice creams and making up a reason to punish them, but I resisted the temptation…barely. Once I settled on a few things…and then a few more…and then a few more, I sat back down in my seat. That’s when I saw my wife struggling with three kids and her own ice cream and considered going over to help. I hesitated walking into the tornado, but once it was over, the damage was only moderate, with only a few tears shed. Once we all sat down we added in the last glorious part to our ice cream, the viscous liquid (caramel, fudge, peanut butter, etc.). After that, we placed the ice cream in the freezer, took a cute quiz as a group, and walked out with our own ice cream concoction. Mission accomplished.

The Turkey Hill Experience is structured so you do the Taste Lab last. Since we arrived later than we expected, we ended up doing it first. The Taste Lab technicians were kind enough to let us leave our ice cream in the freezer until we were ready to leave. They didn't last long in the car ride home, but it was a nice souvenir to savor after leaving.

The whole experience should take about 60-90 minutes, but you can definitely spend more time there if you’d like. We try not to get distracted by gift shops and didn't spend any time there, but there was definitely plenty to buy.

Kashrus note: Most Turkey Hill products, ice cream and drinks, are certified OU-kosher. The items that are dairy are not chalav yisrael. In the Taste Lab, every item is clearly and conveniently labeled with a hasgacha.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Website: www.turkeyhillexperience.com

Location: Columbia, PA

Affordability: $$
Nearby factories and attractions: National Watch & Clock Museum and Wolfgang Candy. (You can buy a joint ticket for Turkey Hill and Watch & Clock museum on the Turkey Hill website.)