This you’ve got to taste!
Feast your eyes on delicious tours and experiences that take you behind the scenes of how food is made. From farm to table, these sensory-rich outings will thrill your family from the smallest to the biggest appetite.
Shatto Milk Company — Osborn, Mo.
Bottles up! This family-owned dairy opens its barn doors wide for an immersive day at the farm. Make friends with hungry little calves during their feeding. Enjoy an educational milking tour that illustrates how milk ends up in your home with a walk-through tour of the processing plant. Plus, see how recycled bottles are prepared for re-use.
Samples will lead to some adorable milk-mustache photos! Kids will be delighted by the flavored milk—options include banana, root beer and more.
Cost: Tours are $5/per person (ages 2+).
KC Parent Pro Tip: Bring a cooler for your picnic on the farm and fill it with farm-fresh cheese, butter, ice cream and other creamy perishables before you say goodbye. The country store is open Monday through Saturday.
Green Dirt Farm — Weston
How is a sheep dairy run? Rain or shine, Green Dirt Farm’s guided tours provide an educational peek. Families are invited to the rustic farm and charming pasture-side. The grass-fed sheep roam freely, so sightings aren’t guaranteed —set your expectations on cheese-making magic rather than an animal encounter.
The milking parlor and cheese kitchen are the real crème de la crème. There’s a great story to how the sheep’s milk is crafted into award-winning cheeses. You’ll sample three!
Tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays for $20 per person. Recommended for ages 8+. Due to rough and hilly terrain, the tour cannot comfortably accommodate guests with restricted mobility.
KC Parent Pro Tip: Planning to splurge on treats from the creamery after your tour? Skip the outdoor seating as bees (emphasis plural!) can be unwanted company. Order to-go instead and head to Weston Bend State Park, which is only five minutes away.
Heartland Harvest Garden (Powell Gardens) — Kingsville, Mo.
If you’ve ever waited for sprouts to break through the ground, you understand the gift of watching food grow and ripen. This heirloom harvest of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and herbs flourishes in seasonal beds that, from a bird’s-eye view, showcase a quilted design.
Chat with friendly staff tending the crops. They’ll be delighted to share about food lifecycles and companion planting as your children touch different leaves and spy vibrant fruits. Once you’ve explored the grounds, take in the view by climbing to the top of the silo observation deck. An elevator is also available.
To enjoy the garden’s peak seasons, visit in the fall (September-October) or spring (April-June). Admission is free for children 4 and under; $12 for ages 5-12; $18 for adults.
KC Parent Pro Tip: Clear your plate for a full day at Powell Gardens! Included with general admission is Jurassic Gardens, an interactive botanical adventure with life-sized prehistoric herbivores and carnivores. Exhibit ends September 28.
Beekeeper’s Experience at Hillside Honey Apiary — Easton, Kan.
Buzz up just north of Leavenworth for a hands-on (well, gloves-on) beekeeping tour with a taste of creamed honey included.
Guests are provided beekeeper suits to visit the hives. Ty, the bee guy, loves sharing his passion for bees as it was passed down to him. He and his wife, Shelley, enjoy educating the next generation with life skills and a mindset to steward the earth well.
Their veteran-owned farm produces not just local honey, but pasture-raised eggs; beeswax candles and skincare products; elderberry syrup; honey-sweetened fruit jams; and fresh-cut flowers.
June through September, schedule a Friday tour (9:00, 11:00 or 1:00) by reservation only.
The Roasterie Factory Tour — Kansas City, Mo.
All ages will savor the warm fragrance of roasting beans. Friendly and knowledgeable guides will do their best to answer all the “whys” your child might have about the blending, packaging, brewing and canning of craft cold brew.
This wheelchair- and stroller-friendly tour is $5 per person. No reservation is required for children 12 and under. The tour is 45 minutes, with a request that your party arrive 15 minutes early.
KC Parent Pro Tip: Before your tour begins, snap a photo with “Betty,” the Douglas DC-3 airplane perched atop The Roasterie.
Chip’s Chocolate Factory — Kansas City, Mo.
One sweet view! Gaze through the observation windows to see fudge and chocolate being made. If the mixing and drizzling isn’t enough to tempt you to indulge in a finished product, the delectable scent of cocoa certainly will. Scheduled tours are also available for groups of 10 or more at $6 per person.
The Cacao Experience at Christopher Elbow Chocolates — Kansas City, Mo.
Signature chocolates, truffles, and bonbons gleam with such striking color and artistry, it’s like admiring gems at a jewelry store. Behind the counter, guests are invited on The Cacao Experience.
Before our tour began, we were served a welcome drinking chocolate with Aztec spices. From there, things only got sweeter. For the next 40 minutes, a chocolatier delighted us with the history of cocoa beans and the refining process of crafting beans to bars. Questions were invited throughout the tour; perfect to indulge curious little minds.
Tastings punctuated several of the stations: nibs of a roasted cocoa bean, one fleur de sel bonbon and three different origin tasting squares. The live tasting was interactive, with the chocolatier asking us to compare the flavor profiles of chocolate from Ecuador, Vietnam and Madagascar. At the end, we were reminded of our one-time $5 store credit and promptly returned to the counter to choose a “gem.”
The vanilla bean truffles and turtles are kid favorites. My dairy-free kiddo loved the pate de fruit (vegan), which is a soft, sugar-coated confection.
The experience is family-friendly, but best suited for children 10 and up. Tours are available Thursdays and Fridays at 10:00, 12:00 and 2:00. Admission is $10 per person; $5 of this fee is donated to supporting sustainable cacao production and farmers directly.
Strawberry Hill Baking Company
Craving fresh-baked goodness? Bakery tours are temporarily paused until the “oven” doors open at a new location. Stay tuned for a delicious comeback!