DURHAM, N.C. — There are farms across the state that provide fresh in-season fruit to the people who live in and visit North Carolina.

What You Need To Know

  • The Parlour uses fresh fruit to flavor its homemade ice cream

  • The shop uses fruit and dairy from local farms in North Carolina

  • Fruit has to be gathered at peak season or it starts losing its flavor

Eating fresh fruit isn’t the only way to enjoy what these farms have to offer.

Many restaurants and dessert shops across North Carolina take advantage of these delicious flavors, including The Parlour ice cream shop in Durham.

“I know the first batch of strawberries we got this year were really good,” Beverly Fleming said. “And everybody that had it was like, 'oh my gosh, it's the best strawberry ice cream.'”

Fresh strawberries go into the ice cream at The Parlour. (Spectrum News 1/Jenna Rae Gaertner)

Fleming’s passion is making ice cream. She started her career as a pastry chef. But once she transitioned to ice cream, she never went back.

“Everybody asked me, well, what's your favorite thing to make?” Fleming said. “And they expect me to say a cake or a pie, and then I'm like, ice cream.”

At The Parlour in downtown Durham, they’re focused on local produce.

“Sometimes we get berries in that are sweeter than others,” Fleming said. “So it lets us know how much sugar we need to tweak the recipes.”

During the summer their strawberry and blueberry ice cream is flavored with fresh berries from local farms. They also use local dairy. Fleming said she has to get the fruit at the peak time of the season otherwise it starts losing some of that great berry flavor.

Owner Vanessa Mazuz agreed.

“It's the same with corn,” Mazuz said. “We also make corn ice cream in the summertime, only in July. And you know, as soon as you refrigerate corn, it starts to become starchy and less sweet.”

The Parlour in downtown Durham serves homemade ice cream. (Spectrum News 1/Jenna Rae Gaertner)

Mazuz started this business in a truck, testing recipes in her kitchen. Now, The Parlour has dozens of flavors. But its classic strawberry continues to be a customer favorite.

Supporting local farms helps it become a tighter knit community. It’s a lot of hard work, but the results are delicious.

“For me, doing stuff like this,” Mazuz said. “When you see the reaction on customers' faces is worth it all.”

The Parlour also buys local blackberries, blueberries, peaches, corn and raspberries for its different flavors depending on what’s in season.