Salt & Straw isn’t your average ice cream shop – they’re flavor revolutionaries who’ve turned the dessert world upside down. Their test kitchen resembles a mad scientist’s lab where culinary boundaries don’t exist and the strangest ingredients become frozen masterpieces.
From ingredients you’d normally find at dinner to components that might make you squirm, these flavors challenge everything you thought you knew about ice cream.
1. Deviled Egg Custard With Smoked Black Tea
Breakfast meets dessert in this mind-bending creation that somehow works despite every instinct screaming otherwise. The eggy custard base carries that unmistakable deviled egg tang, while smoked black tea adds mysterious depth that keeps your taste buds guessing.
Salt & Straw’s flavor wizards managed to capture the essence of your favorite picnic appetizer in frozen form. The creamy yellow scoops look innocent enough until that first spoonful hits your tongue.
2. Cinnamon & Honey Fried Chicken
Who dared to combine Southern comfort food with frozen dessert? Salt & Straw did, and the result is shockingly delicious. Actual pieces of fried chicken skin get candied with honey before being folded into a cinnamon-spiced ice cream base.
Sweet meets savory in perfect harmony as the chicken adds a satisfying crunch between spoonfuls of creamy goodness. The cinnamon provides familiar dessert territory while the chicken elements take you on a culinary adventure.
3. Black Olive Brittle & Goat Cheese
Forget everything you thought you knew about dessert boundaries! This Mediterranean-inspired concoction transports your taste buds straight to a Greek hillside. Tangy goat cheese forms the ice cream base while crunchy brittle studded with black olives provides texture and unexpected bursts of briny flavor.
The goat cheese’s creamy tartness mellows the olive’s intensity, creating a strangely balanced experience. Each spoonful delivers sweet, salty, tangy, and savory notes simultaneously.
4. Creepy Crawly Critters
Bug-eating daredevils, rejoice! This Halloween special features actual edible insects mixed into chocolate ice cream. Chocolate-covered crickets, candied mealworms, and ants create crunchy surprises in every bite.
The chocolate base cleverly disguises the visual evidence while the bugs add texture similar to nuts. Salt & Straw sources their insects from sustainable farms specializing in edible varieties, making this a surprisingly eco-friendly choice.
5. Caramelized Turkey & Cranberry Sauce
Thanksgiving dinner in a cone! This holiday monstrosity combines turkey fat-infused ice cream with ribbons of cranberry sauce and chunks of caramelized turkey skin. The savory-sweet combination sounds terrifying but tastes like frozen Thanksgiving magic.
Salt & Straw renders turkey fat down until it’s golden, then uses it to create a rich base that carries subtle poultry notes. The cranberry swirl provides tart contrast while the crispy turkey skin bits offer satisfying crunch.
6. Mushroom Muddy Buddies
Fungus fanatics, this one’s for you! Candy cap mushrooms, known for their natural maple syrup flavor, infuse this bizarre creation with earthy sweetness. Mixed with chocolate-covered cereal clusters inspired by the classic Muddy Buddies snack, it’s a textural wonderland.
The mushroom flavor isn’t aggressive – more like a whisper of forest floor beneath sweet chocolate notes. Salt & Straw forages these specialty mushrooms during their brief season, making this a limited-time treasure.
7. Baked Brie & Fig Cheesecake
Cheese fiends will lose their minds over this flavor that transforms a fancy appetizer into frozen form. Actual brie cheese gets melted into the ice cream base, creating a funky, creamy foundation that’s shockingly addictive.
Fig jam swirls provide sweet contrast while graham cracker chunks deliver the cheesecake experience. The brie’s distinctive flavor shines through without overwhelming, striking a delicate balance between dessert and cheese course.
8. Bone Marrow & Smoked Cherries
Buttery, meaty decadence meets fruit in this flavor that’s essentially frozen osso buco. Real bone marrow gets roasted and incorporated into the cream base, creating a richness that’s almost overwhelming until the smoked cherries cut through with their tart intensity.
The smoke element adds complexity while the cherries provide acidity to balance the fatty marrow. It’s like someone turned a high-end restaurant’s meat course into dessert form.
9. Pear & Blue Cheese
Cheese strikes again in this Northwest-inspired creation that pairs Oregon blue cheese with ripe pears. The funky, pungent cheese somehow transforms into something magical when frozen with sweet cream and fruit.
Chunks of poached pears provide juicy bursts between bites of creamy, tangy base. The blue cheese doesn’t hide – it proudly announces itself with each spoonful, yet somehow avoids overwhelming your palate.
10. Wasabi Green Apple Sorbet
Your sinuses don’t stand a chance against this dairy-free shocker! Genuine wasabi root infuses this bright green sorbet with gentle heat that builds with each spoonful. Tart green apples provide the sweet-sour foundation that keeps you coming back despite the burn.
The wasabi isn’t just a gimmick – it’s carefully balanced to provide warmth without overwhelming the delicate apple flavor. The bright green color warns your brain something unusual is coming.
11. Sweet Corn & Waffle Cones
Summer on a spoon! Fresh corn gets roasted until caramelized, then steeped in cream to extract its natural sweetness. The resulting yellow ice cream tastes like sunshine and state fairs.
Crushed waffle cone pieces add texture while doubling down on the nostalgic experience. You’ll find actual kernels of corn throughout, providing little pops of authentic flavor that remind you this isn’t artificial corn flavoring.
12. Strawberry Cilantro Lime Cheesecake
Herb haters beware! This controversial creation doubles down on cilantro, incorporating the divisive herb into both the strawberry compote and the cheesecake base. The result is a sweet-tart-herbal explosion that’s polarizing in the best way.
Zesty lime cheesecake chunks provide creamy contrast to the herb-infused strawberry swirls. For cilantro lovers, it’s a revelation – the herb’s brightness amplifies the fruit flavors rather than competing with them.
13. Mango Habanero IPA Sorbet
Beer for dessert? This boozy creation combines three unlikely companions – tropical mango, fiery habanero peppers, and hoppy IPA beer. The resulting sorbet delivers waves of flavor: sweet fruit first, followed by beer bitterness, ending with lingering chile heat.
Salt & Straw partners with local breweries to source fresh IPA that provides complex bitter notes. The habanero infusion is carefully controlled – present enough to notice but not so strong it overwhelms the other elements.
14. Blackberry Tamales
Mexican dessert traditions meet Pacific Northwest berries in this cultural mashup. Actual masa (corn dough) gets incorporated into the ice cream base, creating a uniquely grainy texture that somehow works brilliantly against the smooth cream.
Ribbons of blackberry jam made from Oregon-grown berries provide vibrant color and tart contrast. Small pieces of candied corn husk add unexpected crunch and authenticity to the tamale inspiration.
15. Foie Gras S’mores
Luxury meets campfire nostalgia in this unapologetically decadent creation. Actual foie gras (fatty duck liver) gets rendered down and incorporated into a marshmallow fluff base, creating controversial richness that’s simultaneously shocking and addictive.
Graham cracker pieces and chocolate fudge ripples provide the s’mores elements, grounding the exotic main ingredient in familiar territory. The foie gras adds a savory butteriness that elevates the childhood treat to gourmet status.
16. Sea Urchin Meringue With Mint
Ocean meets garden in this flavor that showcases uni (sea urchin) in dessert form. The briny, custard-like seafood gets whipped into a delicate meringue that’s folded into mint ice cream, creating a sweet-savory contrast that defies logic.
The mint provides cooling freshness while the sea urchin adds umami depth and surprising butteriness. Small pieces of candied uni appear throughout, providing concentrated bursts of ocean flavor.
17. Butter Rolls
Grandma’s dinner rolls become dessert in this nostalgic creation that showcases the simple pleasure of buttered bread. Actual dinner rolls get soaked in butter, toasted until golden, then crumbled into vanilla ice cream, creating comfort in frozen form.
The bread pieces remain surprisingly soft with crispy edges, while butter ribbons throughout ensure maximum richness. Salt flakes provide occasional bursts that enhance the buttery goodness.