Benson's Homemade Ice Cream — Restaurant in Boxford

A summer in New England isn't a New England summer without a few requisite experiences; eating lobster / lobster rolls, a plate a fried seafood; preferably clams, and perhaps most importantly homemade ice cream from a classic local establishment. It wouldn't be summer without Benson's.

Benson's has been serving up cold, creamy treats to my family for literally generations. There are many excellent ice-cream stands in Essex County, but this only serves to prove that Benson's is truly exceptional. How else could it have survived so long? Their list of flavors is long enough to provide variety without being overwhelming, it's chock full of classic flavors dotted with a few new and experimental ones, they also had a vegan strawberry ice cream this weekend, and of course they also have frozen yogurt, but people come in droves to get a-hold of their coveted local fruit flavors. When a local fruit is in season, Benson's will make a run of ice cream, strawberry, red raspberry, black berry, peach, and others, and you can trust it's the real deal because if a crop has a bad year as peaches did a few years back, Benson's won't make it. They do have other fruit flavors not made with local fruit, so look for the word "native" and the colored text on the wooden sign board and other signage to know the difference. It's incredible, but even their basic vanilla and chocolate are incredible. Just see for yourself and go, and enjoy the ride, the surrounding back roads...

As someone with multiple food allergies all outside the top 9 and include corn syrup, being able to have ice cream from a stand takes research and lots of good vibes. Well, Benson's did not let me down on Friday!

We are not from around here, and we wanted to end our day with an ice cream date. So, I began my research early afternoon in search of safe ice cream from a stand. After reading reviews, looking at websites, and calling a few places we settled on Benson's being our best possible option.

And man, did they not disappoint! After telling the woman at the window helping us that I had food allergies and what they were she brought me a binder with all the ingredients! My first choice was a no go so I flipped through looking at what might be safe for me and compared my options to their current flavors before settling in the native fresh fruit raspberry in a waffle cone.

And man, let me tell you, this was one of the freshest best ice creams I think I have ever tasted! Yes their prices seem a little high, but the serving sizes are huge, and the ice cream quality is amazing... so the price is definitely worth it, trust me! And if you are like me and have allergies, you know that the care and helpfulness they provide to serve someone who isn't used to being able to eat at places like this is worth just about any price!

We will definitely be visiting again before we leave town. And who knows, maybe we will find enough freezer space to be able to take...

We went yesterday for Father's Day and it was as busy as ever even though the sky's looked like they were about to open up the entire time we were there. This happened to be our first visit of the year and they had a few new flavors we'd never seen before including banana and a few sugar free flavors. If you do happen to go to Benson's soon when they still have their native strawberry available make sure to try it with the banana. You certainly won't be disappointed if you do. There is not a bad choice to be made on the entire menu and don't ever hesitate to try the new flavors because 9/10 times they're a home run. These couple photos are from last year and look to be native blackberry or black raspberry and red raspberry and the other one is anyone's guess. Also make sure to check out their native flavor schedule on social media so you dont miss out because they go fast...