One of the finer Northern New England traditions of the warmer months is going out for soft serve ice cream, often heading to various area dairy farms and maple sugarhouses. And it’s not just your regular run-of-the-mill instant mix soft serve that’s common across the US, but it’s almost always a richer, higher-butterfat version of soft serve made with local dairy products and ingredients. It’s enough of a tradition that Vermont even has a unique name for this, the “Creemee” (exact spelling can vary, but it’s always close to “Creemee”), and it’s quite specific: not all soft-serve is a “creamee”. It’s also a near-requirement that Creemees be offered in a maple variety as well; indeed, for many Vermonters I know “Creemee” implies maple unless another descriptor is provided.
And most Vermonters, and Vermont-adjacent individuals like myself, are proud partisans when it comes to Creemees, having a strong preference for the products of one producers over another, with a handful of perennial favorites always being bandied about. One of these is Randolph Center’s Silloway Maple.
Located in the rolling hills east of Randolph, VT, Silloway Maple is, as you would guess from the name, primarily a maple syrup sugarhouse, and indeed, if you come in maple season (late February through early April), you’ll likely find Silloway hard at work collecting sap, running the evaporator, and making maple syrup (like the Creemee topic, one’s favorite maple producer is also a deeply-debated topic, but Silloway makes one of my favorite Vermont syrups). But between the end of maple season and end of fall (nominally late October), Silloway also fires up the ice cream freezers to make Creamees (Silloway sticks with that spelling, so I’ll use it for the rest of the article). They also occasionally will offer Creamees and other frozen treats sporadically through the off season, so make sure to check their Facebook page.
If you’re looking for a lot of different Creamee flavors, Silloway isn’t going to be your place. They have, at most, two different flavors: Maple and “Flavor of the week” (Raspberry on our visit), plus you can get the two flavors as a twist. That’s it. You can get several sizes of cones, sundaes, and even coffee affogato (coffee poured over freshly-dispensed Creamee). But they don’t need variety. They’ve got the maple flavored dialed in perfectly: this is a rich, smooth, and very, very deeply maple-flavored Creamee with the exact “approaching firm, but still soft” consistency that makes for a smooth, creamy experience while not melting overly fast. And they are careful with their flavors of the week as well: these are quality flavors, usually featuring local ingredients. It’s one of my local favorites.
But what takes Silloway to the next level for me is the toppings. While they have a variety of your standard toppings (like hot fudge and caramel, or sprinkles), and even maple syrup, that’s not where the action is; they also have a complete set of maple sugar toppings (plain, and several flavored varieties including coffee, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice), all made from Silloway’s own maple sugar. A dusting of any of these maple sugar toppings is complimentary. I opted for a coffee-maple-sugar-dusted maple Creamee on a waffle cone, and the resulting treat was probably my favorite overall maple Creamee in all of Vermont. It’s a great Creamee taken next-level with the maple-sugar, and a quality cone. Definitely a good treat.
Really, I love Silloway, and it’s great spot to visit either during maple sugaring season, or during Creamee season. The only downside? As I write this, both are at least eight weeks away… So check their Facebook Page before heading out.
They do creemees year round, at least some of the time. Their FB page right now says “Maple Creamees today, right through New Year’s Day. 10-5.”
I clarified the article a bit, while they are regularly open during the warmer months, during the winter they are sporadically open, and keep current hours on their facebook page.