Barney, GA |
For more than a decade, a small roadside market in South Georgia has been churning out something locals say is worth the wait—and the work. At Burton Brooks Orchards in Barney, Georgia, it’s not the peaches, melons, or tomatoes that draw the longest lines. It’s the homemade ice cream.
“I bought it. He moved it down. And since, and it came with two five-gallon churns that got me started,” says owner Lynn Abbott, who inherited the equipment from her retired uncle. “Since then, we’ve added on to the building three times and we’re now running five churns a day, making about twenty to twenty-five churns on an average day.”
Those churns are handcrafted by the Amish in Pennsylvania and aren’t easy to come by. Though originally equipped with hand cranks, Abbott has added motors to increase production—but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of a labor of love.
“You prepare your fruit the day before with the five pounds of fruit and sugar. And you let it sit overnight in the refrigerator,” she explains. “Each churn, you might as well figure forty-five minutes from start to cleanup. So, it’s about a day-long process.”
That time and care pays off. Abbott uses a premium 14% butterfat dairy base sourced from Atlanta and follows strict standards for all ingredients. Because of state regulations, even the fruit comes from licensed processors.
“All of my ingredients have to come to me from a licensed processor, sealed up and inspected,” she says. “We can’t use our own peaches or blueberries.”
The result is an ultra-creamy, flavorful product packed with real fruit—not additives. It’s what keeps people coming back again and again.
“The way we make it, you can actually see the pieces of fruit and there’s more of a fruit taste without adding a lot of artificial flavors,” Abbott says. “So, that’s why we do it. It’s just better.”
And when it comes to the South Georgia heat, there’s no better way to beat it than a scoop—or two—of Lynn Abbott’s small-batch, farmstand ice cream.
By: Damon Jones