Marshall’s Farm Market

Marshall’s Farm Market was a mixed bag for me. After a hike at the Delaware Water Gap, I stopped in to pick up some cider donuts and baked goods to bring to my family’s Christmas celebration. Overall, I came away impressed by the quality of the merchandise, yet significantly underwhelmed by the customer service.
First, the positives:
Their cider donuts were excellent: moist and not overly sweet. Cider donuts are hard to find outside of rural areas such as this area of New Jersey, and these easily stacked up the best cider donuts I have had in Vermont and upstate New York. The cinnamon sugar coating gave the donuts a nice crunch, which was an interesting variant on the typical cider donut.
The apple pie was freshly made, and reasonably priced for the quality. This is not your cookie cutter supermarket pie, so there were some slight irregularities. But isn’t that what makes a homemade pie so special? I also think it’s commendable that the pie is made of all natural ingredients, according to the included ingredients description. In this day and age of preserved and genetically modified foods, this is definitely something to advertise and I appreciate them doing so. Personally, I’d rather shell out a couple extra bucks for something that’s farm fresh rather than something loaded with potentially harmful preservatives.
They have an extensive selection of homemade jams, pickled vegetables, fruit butters and sauces. All of which were either made on-​site or from local farmers in the Lehigh Valley.
Now, the negatives:
For some reason, the vast majority of the above-​mentioned jams, butters, and sauces included high fructose corn syrup as one of the primary ingredients. That is an ingredient more synonymous with lower-​end products in supermarkets, rather than products that are supposedly homemade and locally sourced. It truly surprised me that they would use corn syrup instead of natural sugars in their jams and this made me doubt the quality. Because of this, I decided not to buy any, which cost the market some business.
Secondly, I found the employees’ customer service skills significantly lacking. Of the three employees present at the time of my visit, only one acknowledged my presence and said anything to me. Granted, this employee was very helpful and courteous but that doesn’t excuse the behavior of the other employees who simply stared at me like I was an unwanted intruder. Maybe they get a lot of obnoxious tourists passing through, but I visited in the off season, was very respectful, and spent over $ 30, so this type of treatment is completely unacceptable.
All things considered:
I will probably be returning, but only for the cider donuts and pies, both of which were excellent. If I am in the area and looking for homemade jams, I will visit one of the other local farms and hopefully receive better customer service there.

I always sup by when IM in town, although the last time I went I wanted to bring back some locally grown Jersey products to take back down south with me… corn wasn’t really I. n season yet so it was from another state, as was most of the produce, I did find some apple butter and other preserves that they said they made there. I was happy about that and bought them as gifts for friends. They were excellent. I just wish there was more locally produced goods.

Marshall’s has become on of our traditional fall stops. A well maintained farm stand with plenty of fresh local produce and honey. They also have a butcher shop in the back with some of the finest looking bacon around. The back and side of the market are decorated for Halloween with lots of fun places for young kids to play and hide. They have a small but fun corn maze as well.
A good place to stop especially if you have young kids.