I’m so glad you made it back!  Since beginning this series we’ve talked about traveling to Door County Wisconsin in Part One, boats and sunsets in Part Two and now we are ready to begin Part Three.  Today I’m going to tempt your taste buds with some of our favorite Door County specialties.

Cherries

What fruit is Door County famous for?  Anyone familiar with Door County would most certainly say cherries.  Door County is the fourth largest cherry producer in the United States.  Driving along the two-lane highways of Door County it is not unusual to see cherry trees carefully planted in perpendicular rows. There are many wonderful shops that sell Door County cherries.  Our merchant of choice is Seaquist Orchards Farm Market.  Offered for purchase, of course, are cherries.  They sell fresh cherries, cherries for pie filling, dried cherries, cherry pie, cherry donuts, and even cherry jam, to name a few.  Cherries are not the only items sold.  They also have candles, clothing as well as gifts.  Seaquist should definitely be added to your list of places to visit.  If you are unable to make it to Door County you could always visit their website at www.seaquistorchards.com/.

Door County typically produces between eight and ten million pounds of cherries.  Unfortunately the growing season of 2012 was a very bad year for cherries.  The combination of the unusually warm winter of 2011 along with the abnormally warm days in March followed by freezing temperatures in April caused damage to the cherry trees and their blossoms.  The unfortunate chain of events devastated the size of the cherry harvest  It was predicted that Door County’s cherry producers would harvest about a half million pounds of cherries this year.

Faced with a huge reduction in their cherry harvest Door County cherry producers were forced to make a choice.  Save the majority of their crop for local residents and visiting tourists or distribute them to people around the country.  The choice was made to market their cherries locally.  Hopefully 2013 will be much kinder to Door County cherry blossoms.

Ice Cream

Next to chocolate, ice cream is a very close second, on my list of favorite foods.  My first memories of this delicious dessert take me back to my childhood.  I have very fond memories of hand churning a bucket of home-made ice cream.  Our favorite recipe was vanilla ice cream mixed with hand grated German sweet chocolate.  My love of ice cream blossomed from that moment on.  To this day I’m often found locating ice cream vendors wherever I travel.  In Door County my favorite place to purchase silky smooth, freshly made ice cream is the Door County Ice Cream Factory.  On the menu are flavors like Blue Moon, Cherry Cheesecake, Beach Road and Death’s Door Chocolate.  Of course anything with chocolate in it is sure to be one of my favorites.

If you watch this video you will see why I like ice cream at the Door County Ice Cream Factory.  I dare you to you to keep from drooling.

So are you hungry for ice cream yet?  Stop by the Door County Ice Cream Factory for a fabulous scoop or two of their scrumptious ice cream whenever you are in the area.

This brings us to the end of today’s tour of Door County.  Not long from now I will have Part Four finished and ready for your entertainment.  Check back frequently to see if it is ready.  Until then why not enjoy an ice-cold scoop of chocolate ice cream?