There are a few good things about summer that one can look forward to, like vacation, mangoes and ice cream, to name a few. Yes, summer means we can have loads of ice cream whenever and wherever we feel the urge.

Everyone has their favourite flavours, like chocolate, coffee, strawberry, mango, vanilla ... perhaps the list is never-ending. Forget about these regular flavours today, let’s check out some crazy ice creams flavours that only the bold and the wacky can think of and enjoy. Fortunately, you don’t have to try these but just read about all these freaky and creepy flavours.

Mamushi snake ice cream

Mamushi is one of the most venomous snakes in Japan and also a popular, traditional ingredient in Chinese medicine. However, this did not prevent it from being made into an ice cream flavour.

It is said that when you open the lid of the ice cream can, you are hit with an old shoe smell instantly, and it tastes like rotten garlic and cardboard when you eat it. If this is what Mamushi snake ice cream is all about, why do people eat it in the first place?

Charcoal

This dark grey-coloured ice cream is said to combine the carbon tinge of coal and the cold sensation of ice.

In the past year or so, activated charcoal has been in headlines in the form cosmetics and fancy juices that claim detoxifying benefits. However, the validity of these claims hasn’t exactly been proven through scientific studies yet. But the charcoal trend has stuck to the food scene, and now it has made its way into ice cream flavours.

Quite popular in Japan, it is said that the amount of actual charcoal present in the ice cream is too little and is just added for aesthetics purposes.

Vegetables

Introducing vegetables in ice cream is now common around the world. Culinary experts have created amazing treats by mixing a few vegetables together or by using a single vegetable as the main ingredient of the ice cream.

The flavours include carrots, cucumbers, mint, beetroot, tomato, mustard, sweet corn, spinach, and, more interestingly, jalapeno pickle which is a little bit salty, a little bit spicy and has the underlying sweetness one wants from a frozen dessert.

We hope that these vegan ice creams will let kids kill two birds with one stone — by eating their veggies and favourite sweet at the same time.

Garlic flavoured or Dracula ice-cream

Well, if you are an avid reader of Dracula novels/series you may know that Dracula didn’t like the smell of garlic so stayed away from garlic. Interestingly, it was a common practice in Medieval times for people to use garlic to ward off any evil from their houses by putting it at various places — thus the name.

Garlic is a must ingredient in most cuisines but it has now been introduced in ice cream which usually consists of vanilla or honey and cream as a base, then the garlic is added.

Potato

Who doesn’t love potatoes — especially when served as fries with a thick layer of our favourite sauce on them. Mmm ... so yummy!

So for potato lovers, the gourmet industry introduced ‘mash cone’ — consisting of sausage, mashed potato, gravy and peas in an ice cream cone. Food company Aunt Bessie’s (UK-based) claims it is breathing new life into the fortunes of the ice cream van by replacing popular choices with this all-weather alternative.

Mushrooms

Made from candy cap mushrooms, the ice cream smells just like maple syrup. The mushrooms are often used either crushed up into a powder or steeped to impart their flavour on bases for ice creams, panna cottas, custards, etc.

Cockatiel flavoured

Why would someone want to taste their pet bird, I wonder? But cockatiel flavoured ice cream exists and mimics that particular smell of a cockatiel (if you’ve ever had one, you would know the smell).

People who tried this ‘weird’ flavour say it fills your mouth with the smell of birds. But the good thing about it, unlike any of the desserts on this page, is that it doesn’t actually contain any bird parts. Instead, it’s made with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and apple bits … sigh!

Apart from this flavour, there are also parakeet and java finch-flavoured ice creams available.

Crocodile eggs

You may have never heard of this before, but this ice cream flavour does exist and has been introduced at the Sweet Spot Artisan Ice Cream in Davo City, Philippines.

According to its owner, Bianca Dizon, they’ve been run off their feet with demand for the creamy stuff, which is made from crocodile eggs that are either surplus or didn’t hatch.

Bianca claims the crocodile ice cream is “more nutritious than its classic counterparts since it contains less cholesterol” and that croc eggs “provide more protein than ordinary chicken eggs.”

Junk food flavours

Surprisingly, junk food has also made its way into the world of ice cream, with cheese burger, pizza, spaghetti and many more being the popular flavours now.

Spaghetti and cheese ice cream: This is cheese-flavoured with pieces of spaghetti richly coated in the cream.

French toast: Have you ever tried putting a scoop of ice cream on your French toast? There are many people who do this and the tradition has become so popular that French toast-flavoured ice cream is quite a rage. With lots of ‘gooey maple bread pudding’, one can surely get their daily allotment of super-sweet breakfast for dessert.

Fish ‘n’ chips: An ice cream parlour in Whitby (England) revealed this flavour which may make one wonder what they should opt for, the cold treat or the hot one with the same name?

The creation consists of a minty, mushy pea ice cream, a scoop of fish flavour rolled in ‘scraps’ and potato chips in place of the traditional chocolate flake.

Bugs on the menu!

It is said that bugs taste like nuts ... but we are not nuts to try this ice cream flavour, at least not me! Various outlets around the world have introduced different types of bugs such as ants, larvae, grasshopper, beetle, worms, cockroach and other creepy creatures in a variety of coatings such as brown sugar, milk chocolate, vanilla ice cream, etc.

So will this ‘coating’ help in forgetting the main ingredient of the supposedly yummy treat? Definitely no!

According to researchers, “By the end of this century, it is estimated that there will be 11 billion people on this earth. This in turn may lead to severe food shortages. Therefore, we may need to rely on bugs in order to survive in the future. They’re cheap and offer easy proteins that can help us get through the day.”

Published in Dawn, Young World July 1st, 2017