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Anthony Maloni packs up famous homemade muffin tops at the bakery at Rice Fruit Farm in Wilbraham; Maloni's family reopened the farm stand and bakery in April.
(ALEXI COHAN)
By ALEXI COHAN
Special to The Republican
WILBRAHAM - When you walk into Rice Fruit Farm on Main Street, you'll find a charming and immaculate farm stand, engulfed in the aroma of fresh baked treats.
Rice's has been around since 1924, but this newly constructed building just opened in April after the farm's having been closed for six years.
Outside, you'll find beautiful hanging baskets of flowers and old-fashioned wooden signs displaying the farm stand name. Ever since Rice's reopened, it has been very well received by the community, maintaining its tradition as a special place for family and friends to go to relax and grab ice cream, baked goods and coffee.
Rice Fruit Farm owner, Anthony Maloni, of Agawam, says the process of rebuilding and reopening Rice's took about two years.
Rice Fruit Farm on Main Street in Wilbraham offers fresh produce, produce, homemade ice cream and more.
They paid attention to detail, repurposing a lot of the old Rice building for the new business, Maloni said. The wooden floors were used to make tables for the air-conditioned seating area where there's free wireless Internet capability for guests to use as they enjoy their visit.
There are also picnic tables outside and an outdoor deck, where take-out window service is being built.
"Because it wasn't a new construction building it actually made it harder to bring the building up to code," Maloni said, "and, we wanted to do it right."
You'll find a little bit of everything at the farm stand, even convenience items like candy, milk, bread and juice.
The stars of the show, however, include delicious, made-from-scratch muffin tops that begin to bake every morning in small batches at 5 o'clock. These delectable treats are large and filled with fresh ingredients like lemon or cream cheese filling, strawberries, or blueberries. Taste one, and you'll learn why it's no wonder hundreds are sold daily.
The ice cream is also homemade with local ingredients. Cookie dough is said to be among the top selling ice cream flavor. Soft-serve ice cream is coming soon.
At Rice's, it's all in the family with several members of the Maloni family working there every day. "We disagree sometimes, but then we can all throw our ideas out there and brainstorm," says Anthony Maloni's mother, Cynthia.
The farm stand is buzzing daily, both with the well-staffed team of workers and members of the community who are making it a regular stop.
Community is important, according to Maloni. "We try to be a good neighbor so we try to support sports teams and libraries and the high school and elementary school (parent-teacher groups) or anything like that," Anthony Maloni said.
Rice Fruit Farm at 757 Main St. is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.