Summer spells berry season for the Fraser Valley, and Maan Farms has fully embraced this with their very own “Berry Days”.
From now until the end of summer they are open daily from 9am to 5pm for a day on the farm. On top of their regular farm activities like a petting zoo, kids adventure play area, country shop, and concession stand; they have a handful of strawberry themed experiences, plus food and drinks to try.
In years past I have come too late to take full advantage of their strawberry u-pick, so was thrilled to learned that last weekend my timing was spot on for the second bloom. After the first ripening, this is the second round of strawberry growth and the results were large and juicy berries, ripe and ready for the picking.
You pay per picked pound, by container. The branded bucket is the easiest to tote around with its handle. This was ideal for our group of three to wander and find the largest berries and converge to place them gingerly into the bucket.
You can also buy the berries already plucked at their market stand, but half the fun is to only get the ones you want.
And after all that hard picking in the hot sun, guests can head back to the main farm to enjoy some cool treats. This includes their strawberry berry lemonade slush, as an icy beverage. And to make it more adult appropriate you can have it topped up with some of the Maan Farm’s berry wine, and have it as a float.
Their feature dessert is their strawberry cloud ice cream. An over zealous creamy strawberry soft serve cone, surrounded by a pink tuft of cotton candy and topped with candy sprinkles and a wafer cookie roll. This is large and photogenic serving of sweets, I recommend you share it.
For the purists they have their sweet and fresh picked strawberries in a cup, topped with melted milk chocolate. Be warned eat fast, as the chocolate does harden quick.
And for a dairy-free option they have mini donuts fried up with strawberry purée right in the batter for a nice twist on a cinnamon and sugar classic.
But if looking for a more fulsome meal or something savoury before your sweets, Maan Farms has a decent selection of Indian inspired concession eats. Today we had their staple vegetable samosas, a kid friendly chicken tenders and fries, and their new butter chicken taco.
I had to try the latter which is basically naan folded in half, topped with butter chicken and plenty of its sauce, then finished with pickled onions and a bright green cilantro aioli. Messy but tasty.
In short, this was a great day with plenty to do on the farm, head down when the berries are still ripe and before the pumpkins roll in.
Maan Farms Market and Estate Winery
790 McKenzie Rd, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7N4
(604) 864-5723
maanfarms.com
