Rochester, New York’s third biggest city, is known for a number of things: bitter winters, Eastman Kodak, white hot dogs (I call them albino dogs), garbage plates (more on that in a later posting), and summer festivals including the Clothesline Festival. But the city is also known for its many nearby farms.
Just a 20-minute ride from downtown Rochester is Schutt’s Apple Mill, a Huckleberry-Finn styled farm that sells apples, cider and cheese. But come spring, it is also a cherry-picking paradise.
On a recent day, I joined a bunch of international students from the University of Rochester on a cherry-picking venture. First of all, I love cherries, but sadly the fruit have become almost as expensive as filling a gas tank.
Now for some good news: Here at Schutt’s, they are a mere $1.75 a pound, and mostly black, plump and sweet. The tricky part is actually getting to the cherries. Anyone suffering from fear of heights should just forget about it; it takes climbing up a ladder or up a tree to get to the sweetest cherries. Being a big chicken and not trusting the ladder, I was lucky enough to discover some sweet long-hanging fruit though.
Schutt’s is awesome in that there’s much more than cherries. It has a sprawling food and gift shop area loaded with goodies, including homemade jellies, jams, salsa, candies, baked goods, and a Schutt speciality called “apple frost,�? an apple-flavored milkshake-ice cream and slushy hybrid. And if you’re sick of cherries, Schutt’s also offers raspberry, apple and pumpkin picking with the change of seasons.
I live 45 minutes from Rochester and never knew about Schutt’s. Thank you for the tip.