One of the reasons why we stayed in Harrisburg while in Pennsylvania was so that we could visit the nearby Turkey Hill Experience.
This is an attraction where you can learn more about the ice cream company which, as you might expect, involves eating a lot of ice cream 🙂 You also get to learn about the history of Turkey Hill, the ice cream making process, play ice cream-related video games and more.
We’d bought our tickets ahead of time as we wanted to make sure we could get one of the timed tickets for their Taste Lab (more about that shortly). Checking in at the ticket desk was quick and easy and we were given a map showing the layout of the site.
We arrived at about 1:30pm, with our Taste Lab experience being at 2:15pm, so we started making our way around the second floor. The self-guided tour began with an introduction to the Frey family who founded Turkey Hill Dairy.
I hadn’t realized that Turkey Hill’s current incarnation is relatively new. Although the Dairy began in 1931, it wasn’t until 1954 that they started making ice cream. Even then, their ice cream was only sold locally; in the 1980s they started selling their ice cream further afield on the east coast but it wasn’t until the 2000s that their ice cream could be found in grocery stores pretty much nationwide.
In addition to the informational displays, there were some items on exhibit such as this centrifugal separator from the 1930s which was capable of separating almost 600 lbs of milk per hour. This separation allowed them to create skimmed milk and heavy cream, with the cream often being used to make butter or whipped cream.
It wasn’t long before we got to enjoy our first ice cream. While wandering through the exhibits, there was a freezer with a healthy supply of Turkey Hill Cookie Dough Delight ice cream, so Shae and I both took one to have as we continued exploring.
Next up was a short movie sharing more about how Turkey Hill makes its ice cream.
The interactivity continued after the movie as there was a video game visitors can play called Bacteria Blaster. This was a little like the old Atari game Missile Command as you moved about the screen trying to shoot all the harmful bacteria without shooting the good bacteria.
We then got to learn about the important steps that go into making their ice creams.
Having only just finished our free tubs of Turkey Hill Cookie Dough Delight ice cream, it was time for more free ice cream courtesy of their Ice Cream Sampling zone.
There were a few tasty-looking ice cream options, but I settled on their Butter Brickle – toffee flavored ice cream with buttered toffee candy pieces – while Shae went for their Dutch chocolate. These were served in small bowls which we ate as quickly as we could because it was time to head down to the Taste Lab.
The Taste Lab is an add-on experience which allows you to create your very own ice cream flavor, so there was no way we were passing up on that opportunity.
You start off by choosing between vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Shae is a chocolate ice cream person all the way, so that was an easy choice for her to make. Although I prefer chocolate ice cream to vanilla, I figured the flavors I’d want to mix in wouldn’t go as well with chocolate ice cream, so I opted for vanilla.
The Turkey Hill Experience Taste Lab has three stages when creating your own ice cream. You start by adding flavoring which are in small bottles with droppers/pipettes. We were advised that we should only add a few drops initially as the flavor is concentrated, then taste it after mixing it in before adding any more flavor. I added pineapple and – I think – coconut.
You then add inclusions which are sauces of various different flavors. I think I added pineapple, raspberry and caramel at this stage.
The final stage is adding variegates which are mix-ins. Around the room were dispensers with all kinds of fun mix-ins like candies, nuts, cookie pieces, toffee pieces, coconut and more.
I ate a little of my ice cream at this stage so that I could add as much variegate in my tub as possible!
Loading my ice cream to overflowing made stirring it all in a little trickier. We were given a tip to help when it came to mixing everything together. If you stir in a rotating fashion, the ice cream will melt more quickly and turn liquidy, so they advised stirring it in by lifting the spoon from bottom to top rather than round and around.
I tried that, but got a little impatient and so stirred it normally. It meant my ice cream did indeed start turning liquidy, but I wasn’t planning on letting it sit around for too long 😉
If you’re wondering what my ice cream was like, it wasn’t as great as I’d hoped. It’s not that it was bad, it just didn’t seem to have much flavor despite all the flavoring and sauces I’d added during the process. Still, it didn’t stop me from finishing my third helping of ice cream that day.
Shae’s finished product looked more like ice cream than my almost-milkshake.
Our final stop at the Turkey Hill Experience was their gift shop which, as you might expect, had all kinds of Turkey Hill paraphernalia available. We passed on most of it, but they did sell 8 packs of those tubs of Turkey Hill Cookie Dough Delight ice cream for a very reasonable price (I think it was something like $12, so $1.50 each), so we took a pack of those to go, because why not?!
Final Thoughts
Although I preferred our visits to Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont and Tillamook Creamery in Oregon, I’m glad we had a chance to check out the Turkey Hill Experience in Pennsylvania. If you’re a Turkey Hill fan it’s a must-do; even if you’re not a huge Turkey Hill aficionado, it’s worth visiting nonetheless if you like eating far too much ice cream.
Turkey Hill Experience Ticket Pricing
The Turkey Hill Experience has a few different ticket options. They have basic entry tickets, with the ability to add on the Taste Lab (where you make your own ice cream like we did) and/or the Tea Discovery where you presumably get to try different Turkey Hill teas. Shae doesn’t like tea and I only like English breakfast tea, so we passed on that third experience.
Here are the different ticket prices which are correct as of November 2022 when we visited. It’s worth checking this page on Turkey Hill’s website before visiting though in case their ticket prices change.
Single Experience
- Adults (13-61) – $11
- Seniors (62+) – $10.50
- Children (3-12) – $10.50
- Children ages 0-2 – Free
- Military – Free
Double Experience
- Adults (13-61) – $19.95
- Seniors (62+) – $19.45
- Children (3-12) – $19.45
- Children ages 0-2 – $8.95
- Military – $8.95
Triple Experience
- Adults (13-61) – $24.95
- Seniors (62+) – $24.45
- Children (3-12) – $24.45
- Children ages 0-2 – $13.95
- Military – $13.95
Address
Turkey Hill Experience, 301 Linden St, Columbia, PA 17512
[…] Despite its name, this Homewood Suites is in Mechanicsburg, although that’s still part of the Harrisburg metro area. It’s ~15 minutes from Harrisburg (the capital of Pennsylvania), ~25 minutes from Hershey, and ~45 minutes from both Gettysburg National Military Park and the Turkey Hill Experience. […]