Savor: I Scream, You Scream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph by Thom Thompson 
http://www.thomthompson.com;

Ice Cream provided by Woodside Farm Creamery

http://http://www.woodsidefarmcreamery.com/

 

When it comes to creating ice cream treats, there
are no rules: TastyKake Krimpets, crunchy cucumber, Lucky Charms, fresh garlic…

Whoa. Cucumbers and garlic?

“It’s a pretty cool industry,” says Chip Hearn, Delaware’s guru of funky-flavored ice cream. “Some people don’t get the concept of ice cream, that you can put anything in it.”

If you’ve tasted his cappuccino-stout, pear-green tea or bacon varieties, you already knew that. Hearn is the man behind the madness at Udder Delight Ice Cream House and the Ice Cream Store in Rehoboth Beach. His blends are made by Woodside Farm Creamery in Hockessin.

“My game is a little bit skewed,” Hearn says. “When you’re at the beach, it’s all about having fun.” “Fun” can include barbecue sauce ice cream.

The craze is not reserved for resorts. La Michoacana Homemade Ice Cream in Newark and Kennett Square serves mixes such as sweet corn ice cream, which is sometimes topped with cinnamon. The cucumber ice cream bar is infused with chili powder. “The cool cucumber and spicy chili take you back and forth,” says owner Noelia Scharon. Other flavors include grapefruit,
avocado, tamarind and bean, made at the request
of a local Chinese school.

The kookiest of Hearn’s creations, such as Buffalo wing sauce, aren’t meant to be best sellers; they’re conversation starters. “The shock flavors are fun,” he says, “but what the customer wants is the best flavor known to man.”

So while you’re sampling, look for combos like amaretto-garlic-chocolate chip. “You never know what will be the big mover from the outlandish side,” Hearn says.

Yet there may be a limit to good taste. “We don’t put raisins in our rice pudding ice cream,” Scharon says. “Some people think that’s disgusting.” —Drew Ostroski