GREATER SPRINGFIELD – I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

A few weeks ago, the Reminder news staff reviewed several local coffee shops in the area. While I can appreciate a good Cup O’ Joe, my coffee connoisseur skills were not on par with my coworkers (I’m more of a tea drinker anyways). Reviewing ice cream, on the other hand, was something I could get behind.

My coworker, Payton North, and I decided to step up our game and tour some of the local ice cream joints in the region – after all, who doesn’t love a cold scoop in the middle of summertime?

Below is a list of the five local ice cream shops we visited.

The Apple Place

The first stop on our list was East Longmeadow’s The Apple Place on 540 Somers Rd.

The authentic farm and fruitstand was charming, inviting and interesting upon first impression. Although it had the New England-farm feel, its small, decorative details set it apart from the standard farm setting.

The Apple Place has been a family-run fruit farm since 1971, and the property has been farmed since the early 1800s. The spot is complete with chickens and pigs, and the seating is eclectic – a combination of metal furniture, Adirondack chairs, four gliders and more. There is also a play area for children.

While the farm offers baked goods and over 50 varieties of apples, we were there for one thing – the creamery.

Using locally churned ice cream from The Maple Valley Creamery, The Apple Place offers both soft serve and hard ice cream. Aside from vanilla and chocolate, the shop has roughly 25 flavors, including Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Cotton Candy, Heath Bar Yogurt and Maple Walnut.

Payton and I agreed to try the most obscure flavors at every shop, so we settled on samples of the Graham Cracker, Salted Caramel Truffle and Kahlua Fudge Brownie.

My favorite, to my surprise, was the Graham Cracker – which consisted of graham cracker-flavored ice cream infused with crisp graham cracker bits. The sweetness of the ice cream was not over-powering, and the graham cracker bits provided the perfect texture.

I generally gravitate toward chocolate-based ice creams, so this was new for me.

Payton also agreed.

“The whole thing taste like graham cracker, but there is a nice crunch without being too much crunch,” she added.

The Salted Caramel Truffle is the shop’s most popular flavor (it lived up to its reputation), while the brownie chunks in the Kahlua Fudge Brownie were a nice compliment to the Kahlua flavor.

All three flavors were mouth-watering.

“I really enjoyed my time at The Apple Place. It was my first time there after hearing rave reviews about it, and it did not disappoint,” said Payton. “The owners were incredibly welcoming, offering us several ice cream samples, extensive information on the background of the property and activities, as well as a tour of the property. I will definitely be going back to The Apple Place.”

The shop’s hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Mountain View Restaurant

The Mountain View Drive In is a family-owned seasonal restaurant in Hampden. It has been part of the local community for over 60 years.

Serving only soft serve ice cream, its iconic purple and green picnic tables are symbolic of the shop’s most distinctive flavor – the Black Raspberry and Pistachio Twist.

To preface, I am not a fan of pistachio-flavored anything, but I made a commitment to this story.

The Pistachio and Black Raspberry flavors intertwined to form a beautiful green and purple swirl, while the combination of flavors worked shockingly well.

“Though I’ve tried the Pistachio-Black Raspberry Twist before, I was happy to have another taste-test of this flavor. I thought it was the perfect balance of sweetness without being too overwhelming,” Payton commented. “The flavors perfectly compliment one another, which I think may be unexpected. Additionally, the bright mint color of the pistachio ice cream and the purple shade of the black raspberry make for a gorgeous photo.”

If this combination doesn’t suit you, Mountain View offers a variety of other soft serve flavors, including Blue Goo, Watermelon, Coffee n’ Cream, Butter Pecan, Cotton Candy, Bubble Gum and Caramel.

The restaurant also serves typical drive-in foods, such as chicken tenders, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, onion rings and hot dogs. The indoor-dining area is retro-style, featuring booths and tables.

This quaint ice cream shop reminds Payton of her childhood, she explained.

“When I was very young my mom, Laurie, would take me to swimming lessons at Mercury Swim Institute at 73 Allen St. in Hampden. After a good swim lesson on a hot day, we’d drive a minute down the road to Mountain View for a hot dog and an ice cream,” she said. “Now, I go to Mountain View with my friends for a soft–serve Chocolate and Vanilla Twist on a hot day. I always look forward to the spring and summer months, because that means I get to start going to Mountain View again.”

Mountain View is open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Rice Fruit Farm

Another ice cream gem, found at 757 Main St. in Wilbraham, is the Rice Fruit Farm. The farmstand is deeply rooted within the area, and is well known for not only its hard and soft serve ice cream, but its breakfast bagel sandwiches as well.

After years of restoring and renovating the original Rice family farmstand, which was established in the late 1800s, the Maloni Family recently re-opened the popular business.

Rice makes homemade ice cream in small batches at the farm, and offers a plethora of eye-catching flavors, including Moose Tracks, PB Oreo, Purple Cow, and Mint Chocolate Chip. Flurries, edible cookie dough, frozen yogurt and sugar free options are also available.

Our flavor of choice was called Shark Tooth, in honor of Shark Week. The flavor consisted of grape-flavored ice cream with white chocolate chips.

Payton said she isn’t too keen on grape-flavored food items, but appreciated the flavor in a small amount.

“Generally I’m not a fan of grape. I only had a spoonful of the Shark Tooth ice cream, and while I liked the spoonful, I don’t think I would want to have a whole cone of the flavor,” she stated. “With that said, Rice’s offers so many ice cream flavors that I don’t think I would have any problem finding one that I would enjoy.”

I found the ice cream to be quite refreshing. It didn’t have the consistency of a fruit sorbet, so it wasn’t too tart and had a creamy texture.

Aside from a variety of flavors of ice cream and baked goods, the atmosphere of Rice’s is extremely family-friendly. The inside of the ice cream shop is adorably painted, with one wall covered in bubblegum pink and white stripes. Another wall is painted black and white in the form of cow spots. It felt reminiscent of an old-time ice cream shop, complete with a “Test Your Love” machine where people can test their love lives for a quarter.

There is also outdoor seating for those who like to enjoy their cones or food in the sun.

“I know I’m not alone when I say going to Rice’s has become a tradition and a weekend ritual,” Payton finished.

The Farmstand’s hours of operation are from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day.

The Collins Creamery

Traveling to Enfield’s Collins Creamery, located at 9 Powder Hill Rd., was a bit of a trek for us – but its alluring scenery made it worth it.

The creamery sits on a farm – cows graze in a fenced-in area to the left, a cornfield stretches out in front and a classic red barn stands behind the cows in the distance. There is a small playground for children to play on next to a variety of wooden picnic tables.

“I thought the scenery was quite scenic at Collins Creamery. It felt very peaceful and quiet, which I enjoyed,” said Payton.

Jack and Mavis Collins of Powder Hill Farm founded the creamery in 1997. As bulk milk prices began to drop in the 1990s, the opening of the Creamery was part of a greater effort to diversify their operation and promote the importance of local agriculture.

The creamery is now owned and managed by Tony and Michele (Collins) Bellafronte, and offers over 20 flavors of ice cream in a quiet, country setting.

The two flavors we sampled were Rum Raisin and Grapenut – Payton and I quickly learned that Grapenut is not, in fact, a type of nut.

I was a little nervous about these flavors – they were both outside the parameters of my usual palette. To my surprise, they were both slightly underwhelming.

They were both vanilla-based. The Rum Raisin had raisins embedded into the scoop, while the Grapenut had diced-chunks of the Grapenut cereal. The vanilla-base was creamy and delicious, but the additives were sort of bland.

“While I did enjoy the ice cream, I didn’t think the two flavors we chose were standouts, as they tasted like vanilla ice cream with additives,” said Payton. “With that said, I’m also not a huge vanilla fan, so that could be apart of my problem. I think if I had tried a chocolate-based flavor, I would’ve been much more satisfied.”

The quality of ice cream was definitely top notch, however, but the flavors were just not up our alley.

The Collins Creamery is open from 12 to 10 p.m. every day.

Elsie’s Creamery at Randall’s Farm

Last, but not least, Ludlow’s prized Elsie’s Creamery located at Randall’s Farm on Center Street.

Elsie and Bill Randall founded Randall’s farm over 50 years ago. It began as a season egg farm and fruit stand, and later grew into a Produce and Greenhouse business. In 1962, they built the first Retail Farm Stand, which became Elsie’s Creamery in 1998.

The creamery has more than 30 flavors of homemade ice cream, including Butter Crunch, Fudge Ripple, S’mores, Coconut, Oreo Cheesecake and Funky Monkey.

Payton and I tried a spoonful of the Watermelon flavor, which has chocolate chips mixed in. It was a nice, light, summery flavor, and the added chocolate chips made it look like a spoonful of watermelon.

“I do like watermelon, but I was a bit skeptical when we were offered watermelon ice cream,” said Payton. “I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted similar to watermelon sorbet, however, it had a thicker ice cream texture as opposed to the lighter feel that sorbet has.”

The creamery has a walk-up window and a small pavilion-area for seating.

Overall, Payton and I enjoyed our experience at Elsie’s.

“Elsie’s Creamery was the perfect place to end our day on a high note. The staff was welcoming and informative,” said Payton. “Afterword, Jordan and I were able to go into Randall’s Farm for a snack, which we needed to eat to break up all of the sugar we had consumed!”