Ice cream is supposed to be a treat, but every now and then, someone tries to reinvent the wheel with flavors that you make you do a double-take (and not in a good way). These 9 foods-turned-ice cream prove that not everything needs a scoop.
9. Garlic Ice Cream
In Gilroy, California, the “Garlic Capital of the World,” they don’t just cook with garlic…they turn it into a creamy, frozen dessert. Multiple shops across Gilroy serve this treat in both traditional scoops and soft-serve form. The experience is less “dessert” and more “daring culinary stunt.” Garlic ice cream is a creamy concoction that’s as baffling as it is unforgettable.
8. Lobster Ice Cream
Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium in Massachusetts and Maine decided to combine two of the state’s most famous products: fresh Atlantic lobster and buttery ice cream. The result is a vanilla bean and butter-based ice cream studded with cooked and chopped lobster meat. While some adventurous eaters praise the sweet and savory combination, others aren’t a fan of having chewy seafood in their dessert.
7. Mayonnaise Ice Cream
Ice cream makers like The Ice Cream Project in the UK have created a mayonnaise-flavored frozen dessert, with Heinz even launching its own mayo ice cream in London. The result is an eggy, tangy, and slightly oily concoction that left people bewildered and questioning their life choices. Most of those who tried the mayo ice cream agree that this is an experiment that should have been left in the drafts.
6. Pizza Ice Cream
Van Leeuwen, a brand known for its unconventional flavors, pushed the envelope with its Pizza ice cream released in 2022. This creation featured a cream cheese and mozzarella ice cream base, swirled with a sweetened San Marzano tomato jam and mixed with basil crust cookies. The intention was to capture the essence of a classic comfort food, but the reality was a confusing mix of sweet and savory flavors.
5. Cold Sweat Ice Cream
At Sunni Sky’s in Angier, North Carolina, there’s an ice cream so intense you have to sign a waiver before you can even try it. “Cold Sweat” is a combination of two different hot sauces and chunks of three types of chile peppers, including habaneros and ghost peppers. Customers described it as “frozen fire,” an experience of icy cold and blistering heat that defies logic. Clearly, this isn’t for the faint of heart.
4. Thanksgiving Dinner Ice Cream
The Ice Cream Store in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, decided to capture the entire Thanksgiving experience in a single scoop. This seasonal specialty features a vanilla ice cream studded with potatoes, tomatoes, and green beans, then topped with hot sauce and granulated sugar. Our question? Why? While it’s certainly a conversation starter, the flavor has the ability to induce shudders.
3. Cicada Ice Cream
Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream in Missouri created a cicada-flavored ice cream during the 2011 cicada invasion. The process involved boiling the pesticide-free insects, covering them in milk chocolate and brown sugar, and mixing them into a brown sugar and butter ice cream base. The result was a crunchy, earthy, and slightly nutty flavor that was (surprisingly) a hit with adventurous eaters.
2. Ranch Dressing Ice Cream
Van Leeuwen, in a collaboration with Hidden Valley Ranch in March 2023, released a flavor that many thought was an April Fool’s joke. Ranch Dressing Ice Cream was sold at Walmart stores across the country, featuring buttermilk, herbs, and a hint of sweetness that somehow made everything worse. The reviews were not kind. Tasters described it as “bad on another level,” with others admitting to throwing it in the trash after a single bite.
1. Oyster Ice Cream
Before the golden days of liquid nitrogen and artisanal scoop shops, there was oyster ice cream. This savory, briny ice cream flavor was rumored to be a favorite of Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, who served it at White House dinner parties to the delight (or horror) of her guests. The recipe involved using a cream base with fresh oysters, a flavor that’s best left in the history books.
