Factory Tours

Today was a cool and rainy (off and on) day so we figured today would be a great day to do some factory tours. First we went to Cold Hollow Cider Mill. They have a bakery there so we had apple cider donuts and these pastries that had maple cream in them. After breakfast we went over to where they make cider, but unfortunately they weren't making any today so we just watched a video about how it is done. Cold Hollow is one of the few places that makes apple cider year round. They use 80% Macintosh apples and the rest a variety of others. They had samples there of the apple cider and it was delicious--better than the stuff that we have had in Minnesota. They may be making cider some time this week so we may drive back down since it isn't too far from here. After the video we walked around the store and sampled some of the items that they had out. One of the samples was some honey mustard that had a kick to it. But the funny thing is that the kick doesn't hit you right away--not really till after you swallow. Then you feel the burning in your nose. :-) We picked up a jar. Even Dan liked it (he doesn't generally like anything remotely spicy but he liked this).



Next we drove down to Ben & Jerry's for a tour. The tour here lasts half an hour and includes a birds-eye view of the factory and a free sample at the end. The flavor they were sampling today was Imagine Whirled Peace. It is a sweet cream base swirled with toffee cookie pieces and chocolate peace signs. Mmmmmmmm. Before we went in for the tour they had a movie playing about how they got started, but unfortunately we weren't able to watch the whole thing since we had to go in for the tour. But it was very interesting. One of them kept getting rejected for medical school and the other had no desire for college and dropped out more than once. They've been friends since they were kids and figured they didn't really have anything to lose. Interestingly, the reason that Ben & Jerry's has so much flavor is that one of them (can't remember which one) has sinus problems and therefore can't taste much unless it has strong flavor. So as they were trying to find a recipe for their first ice cream, they added at least four times the amount of flavor that most recipes called for. Turns out it was a hit.





The flavor graveyard:



After Ben & Jerry's it was almost lunchtime so we stopped by the Cabot Cheese Annex and sampled several different kinds of cheese. Then we stopped by Lake Champlain Chocolates and had a sample of chocolate. Now that we'd satisfied our hunger, we moved on to Ziemke Glass Blowing Studio. It was fascinating and Ellie said that she could have sat there all day and watched him make stuff.


Here he is heating up the glass in a 2100 degree oven. The oven to the right of the one he is using here is also heated to 2100 degrees and holds a bowl of liquid clear glass.


In the next two pictures he is adding a swirl of silver around the glass. The darker piece in the middle is actually a bubble. This piece turned out to be an amber colored beer stein with a silver stripe around it. It was cool to watch him put the handle and the thumb rest on it. He's been doing this for 34 years.





Here he is using centrifugal force to elongate the glass.


By now it was mid afternoon and we were hungry!!! So we drove back into Stowe and ate at Pie-casso, a great pizza place. The crust was just perfect--the right amount of chewiness and crunch.