'Tis the season for asparagus ice cream

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Yes, asparagus ice cream is a thing. If the idea of pale green vegetable matter in a dessert has you scratching your head, you are not alone.

“People will often think it's a joke if they've never been here,” Debby Cook said of the seasonal offering. “They’re like, 'For real?'”

It’s a very real tradition for Cook, who manages the ice cream and dairy store Flayvors of Cook Farm, her family’s fourth-generation business. Their cows graze on land graced with rich soil that’s perfect for asparagus.

“It’s a perennial, and it just flourishes here,” Cook said. “Many families here have had it for 100 years, and it grows so quickly that we've just termed it ‘Hadley Grass.’”

In the early 1900s, Hadley was known as “the asparagus capital of the world.” Locals still embrace the nickname. About 25 years ago, Cook’s mother-in-law Beth wanted to honor her town’s past and present by creating an ice cream flavor also named “Hadley Grass.”

“She had so many friends, and her community meant the world to her,” Debby Cook said. “She really wanted to showcase her favorite place, so she decided she was gonna make it her mission to figure out a way to make asparagus ice cream.”

After a series of trials and errors, Beth Cook finally concocted her recipe.

“We make it with 10 pounds of cooked asparagus per batch of ice cream — so there is a lot of asparagus,” Cook said. “We cook it ahead of time and put the asparagus into the machine.” Then they mix the veggies with cream, sugar and chopped almonds that add a crunch to the green-colored confection. “Between the savory, the sweet and the nuts, it just works.”

Each spring, I tell myself I’m going to head to Hadley to taste this unusual flavor. Alas, I’ve yet to make the trip. When asked to describe the “Hadley Grass” experience, Cook said it’s not smooth. “There are strings or chunks of asparagus. But when you first take a bite, you get the sweet with the almond — like a pistachio flavor ice cream. Then the asparagus hits you on the backside and you’re like, ‘Oh, there it is.’”

“Hadley Grass” inspires a lot of conversation among the skeptics and believers who line up on the shop’s front porch. It’s garnered a cult following, and Cook said the shop flies through a few dozen 2.5-gallon tubs each spring.

“We have it as soon as the farmers start picking and we can get enough to make ice cream,” Cook said. Boisvert Farm in Hadley supplies the piles of pale green spears usually in late April or early May.

But this year Mother Nature delayed the popular ice cream’s timeline. “The asparagus started to grow, and then we got a really hard, late frost,” Cook said. “And when that happens, it kind of burns the tops of the plant — the tips were a little bit freezer-burnt. But the farmers cut the asparagus back, and the season has been great.”

The annual crop’s season is always fleeting, though, so the ice cream is only available through early June. Cook said fans clamor for “Hadley Grass” and start placing their orders online in mid-April. “This year, we had a couple warm days in March, and people started calling.”

With such demand, you might wonder if the Cook family has considered mass-producing the flavor, but Cook said that would be challenging. “Our ice cream machine makes four tubs at a time, and preparing the asparagus takes a long time — between washing it, cutting it, cooking it.” They also have to let the veggies drain in a colander for 24 hours to release some of the water to prevent the finished product from being too icy. “It does take a lot of work,” Cook said.

But it’s worth it, she added, because their asparagus ice cream is like an edible love letter to Hadley. “There are incredible farmers that work in our community and produce these crops all year round,” Cook said. “So to have the ‘Hadley Grass’ is just a great way to show off Hadley.”

P.S.  — Asparagus might top the list of unusual flavors, but there are more whacky combinations out there. We want to know: What's the most creative, unique flavor of ice cream you've tasted in the Greater Boston region? Share your favorite out-of-the-box scoops, and where to find them.