Ice cream flavors, best, worst, and weirdest

Thanks for reminding me of kulfi! I can get it at my local South Asian market. Haven’t tried the durian flavor yet, even though I’m sure it would resemble the taste of “real” durian as much as “real” grape or banana resembles the fruit flavoring.

I tasted a macaroni and cheese ice cream from Van Leeuwen. It was as advertised. Tasted like Kraft Mac and Cheese if it were an ice cream. It was weird and not something I need to have again.

I also had “everything bagel” ice cream, which contained garlic and onion because, well, that’s what everything bagels have, in addition to the seedy stuff. That was … interesting. Worth trying once for the experience but, once again, no need to try again.

Matcha (green tea) ice cream is pretty damned good. Red bean ice cream also works quite well. My favorite is just straight-up vanilla, tied with Haagen-Dazs pistachio, which is sweet cream ice cream (not vanilla) with pistachio bits in it, so it tastes like actual pistachio, not some weird almond-pistachio hybrid many of the other brands taste like.

I’ve had mango kulfi many times, which is wonderful, but I haven’t seen marijuana kulfi at any of the Indian wedding buffets yet … (I work a lot of South Asian events as a photographer). I’ve also heard there’s interesting varieties of paan, but they’ve all been PG so far.

We had Gorgonzola gelato in Florence many years ago. We expected it to be “interesting”, which it was, but it was also really good.

I bet that would be great… I’ll be keeping my eye out for it.

I’ve never had that but, as a lover of blue cheeses (as well as being a sweet-and-savory guy), I can actually see that working quite well.

Sometimes I will treat myself to paan masala ice cream: Freshly made Mitha Paan (beetle leaves) blended with many aperitifs like fennel seeds, rose petals, tuttie fruittie and cardamom; perfect ending to a delicious meal.

Sorry, I was mistaken. It’s not Trader Joe’s, but rather Private Selection. My bad.

If you like rose flavors, then I recommend :
Candied Damask Rose Petals : Amazon.com: Patanjali Gulkand (Rose Petal Preserve) 500 gm / 17.63 fl oz : Grocery & Gourmet Food You can find other brands and cheaper at your local Indian store. Just pay attention to the manufacturing date - you want it within the last 3 months

Use half teaspoon of it at a time and do not chew on it but rather keep it in the corner of your mouth and let it melt in slowly (kinda like a lozenge).

From your previous posts, I think you work mostly with Indian Gujaratis who are not much into the traditional marijuana scene. Neither are Indian Christians and Muslims due to obvious reasons.

Kulfi is from North Central India. So if you find Indian folks from the states of Delhi or UP or Bihar etc. - ask them.

Also marijuana kulfi is not served at a wedding, even in India. Marijuana preparations in India are usually for consumption in private or a very small group of friends.

Yes, that is correct. Mostly Gujarati, some Punjabi, a lot of Keralites (which hits your Christian comment), a good number of Muslims, some Sikh, and a sprinkling of Hyderabadi and thereabouts. A few Bengali. But, so far as I remember, not really anywhere from UP or Bihar.

But, regardless, I didn’t actually expect marijuana kulfi to be served at a wedding :slight_smile: Though I am curious whether it has any psychoactive properties. Is it cooked in some way, like fried in oil or something? I think some heat is necessary to release those types of effects.

Man - India is diverse. Gujarat is a dry state , i.e. it has prohibition ; so no alcohol except for out-of-state people. Punjabi Sikhs have stories from WW2 where Nazi officers tried to trick Sikh soldiers but mistakenly offered them cigarettes’ which gave them away (kind of like how Americans hold their fork in their right hands and were discovered as spies), Kerala is a communist state in India and Keralites, like Russians, love to drink !! Anyways - that’s hijacking this thread.

Like their connoisseurs of coffee who insist on Burr grinders, marijuana (bhang) is sort of like that. It is actually the leaves and not the buds of the plant, so the psychoactive properties are low. Different people have centuries old methods to essentially decarboxylate. Usually they boil it first, then hand grind it to a very very fine paste - they do not reveal their methods though. My guess is the heat of grinding decarboxylates the stuff, but I maybe wrong.

So, in other words, it’s the South Asian take on edibles?

Yes, it’s a dry state … but the Guataris I meet in the US … not so much. The Gujus in the US that I’ve met are quite the partiers. And when I went to Ahmedabad to shoot a wedding…the whole “dry” thing went way, way, way out the window. Cops were paid off (or something) and the Johnnie Walker Gold and Blue flowed freely.

ETA: Oh shit, this is about ice cream… Yes, we had some lovely mango kulfi. And carrot halva. Which is not ice cream, but still delicious in its own right.

I remember liking it well enough as a kid who generally hated black licorice.

Orange and licorice does not sound all that weird to me. Those flavors make sense as a pair.

Filipino ice cream flavors often include cheddar cheese and/or corn. They’re surprisingly good. Not my preference, but I can see how if that’s what you grew up with, you’d really enjoy them.

I would concur with the H-D vanilla and Strawberry, except I also adore H-D Coffee ice cream. Rum Raisin and Honey Vanilla (do they even still make these?) were also sublime.

{Looks at poster’s username}. Not gonna argue! :wink:

Actually, those flavours sound pretty good. Coffee is a flavour that has some strange and unexpected compatibilities. One upscale butcher shop around here sometimes has thick rib or striploin steaks in a delightfully rich marinade of which one of the dominant ingredients is coffee.

Nevertheless, I’m staying with vanilla Haagen-Dazs as my go-to, with or without fresh strawberries. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

The amount of air pumped in during the freezing process is called the “overrun”. It’s why when you pick up a pint of Halo Top, it hardly weighs anything, as opposed to Haagen-Dazs, which feels like a piece of home-exercise equipment.

I would guess that the lack of fat in the Halo Top ice cream is what causes the skin to form.

I used to work for a company that sold ingredients to Halo Top, and they had incredibly strict protocols - for example, the trucks had to be locked and sealed until delivery. (You can see such trucks on the highways with little tiny doors in the back so that any highway inspectors can verify content without being able to actually enter the container.)

My favorite ice cream in the world; has been since I was a kid.

… matter of fact, there’s still a wee bit left in my freezer. 'Scuse me.