Inside Palmer Lane Maple, a small, white, old parsonage in Jericho, maple products decorate the walls from sweets to hot sauces. This candy store in northern Vermont is also a local legend for their maple creemees.
A creemee 鈥� for those outside of the Green Mountain State 鈥� is called soft serve ice-cream elsewhere.
A standard maple creemee sits in the cone with a gold-like tint from the fresh maple syrup. Every cone comes out perfectly swirled 鈥� a mountain of dairy goodness protruding gracefully into the air.
What gives the creemee its novel consistency is the additional air is forced into the mixture when it鈥檚 frozen. Palmer Lane uses a custom mix from Kingdom Creamery of Vermont.
The perfect creemee consists of a few ingredients including liquid cream, condensed milk, pure cane sugar and a stabilizing agent. At Palmer Lane, maple syrup that owner Paul Palmer spends his spring collecting is added to the mixture.
On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, Hannah Hansen, her husband and their five children sat outside of the shop in a colorful Adirondack chair, enjoying their creemees.
鈥淭he maple cone that I had with the maple sprinkles 鈥� kind of exploded in my mouth a little bit,鈥� she said. 鈥淛ust lots of flavor, was very creamy, of course, which is appropriate for its name.鈥�
Hansen said her kids could not contain their excitement when they found out they were coming to Palmer Lane.
That included her son, Judah.
鈥淚t's cold, it鈥檚 good, and it's bad,鈥� he said.
Bad because they can be messy. His mom reached over and wiped the rest of his creemee off of his face.
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One of the biggest summer traditions in Vermont is to have a creemee.
鈥淚 live in Florida. So every time I come home, I come here,鈥� said Sammy King, who grew up in South Burlington and now attends college down South.
She said she's been coming here since she was a child, so a creemee has become part of her welcome-back-to-Vermont routine.
When Palmer Lane Maple first opened in November of 2012, the store was focused on selling maple products. It wasn't until the Jericho community started demanding creemees that husband and wife duo Paul and Colleen Palmer took interest.
鈥淏y March [of 2013], which is Maple Open House weekend, we started doing creemees,鈥� Colleen said. 鈥淎nd we never looked back.鈥�
Today, in addition to maple, Palmer Lane offers a variety of flavors including strawberry, black cherry, vanilla, and chocolate.
And of course sprinkles 鈥� maple sprinkles to be exact.
Paul said it feels special to be in the candy and ice cream business.
鈥淚t's just a blast to see the kids come in and ordering their own ice cream, you know, it's something easy for them to do,鈥� he said.
In Vermont, a creemee is more than just ice cream. It鈥檚 how Vermonters connect with summer childhood memories. As the fall draws closer, and families send their children off to school, people are lining up for a last taste.
Have questions, comments or tips? or get in touch with reporter Marlon Hyde .
