Vinegar and celery ice cream

By: Catherine Sleep - 17 August 2005 09:17

Demand for more “natural” flavours of ice cream has sparked the development of some unusual varieties in Italy. According to the Guardian, balsamic vinegar, celery and tomato ice cream are some of the new flavours being tried out, as the popularity of ice cream made with artificial flavours and colours declines.

And it’s not just the artisan ice cream makers at coastal resorts where the new flavours are being developed – restaurant chefs are also getting in on the act, with new dishes including gorgonzola ice cream with prune sauce, and summer risotto with parmesan ice cream and saffron jelly.

However, it seems that for all the innovation and experimentation, chocolate ice cream remains the firm favourite among Italians.

Ice cream revolution

Comments on this blog post

The hero of the ice cream revolution is in Venezuela. Corimoto ice cream parlour has: "over 500 flavors (or did when I was there). Only about 100 flavors are available at any time, but the non- available ones are on a separate list where you can read them. The onion ice cream tasted just like garden fresh green onions (or scallions), only colder. Unusual, but good. The tomato ice cream tasted like creamy frozen cream of tomato soup, which makes sense considering the dairy base. The rose ice cream was just like inhaling a bouquet of roses, except one was eating them! Although unusual, all three were good. The beet and corn ice cream, although they certainly tasted like what they were, were only slightly palatable, however. My favorite was the chestnut ice cream, and my wife's favorite was spearmint. The spearmint was a brilliant green and made with fresh spearmint leaves. Another interesting flavor was spaghetti with cheese. This was cheese flavored ice-cream with ground-up spaghetti (noodles only, no sauce). It was kind of gritty, but worth trying to say that we've eaten spaghetti ice cream! Oh yes, good carrot ice cream, too." (see http://digbig.com/4egjn )

Andrew Denny, United Kingdom