Your favorite unusual ice cream flavors in stores

[solarstar]

I love cookies and cream as much as anyone, but sometimes I feel like trying more exotic flavors of ice cream - mango, green tea, and black sesame are three of my favorites. I recently found a half-gallon of Selecta Mango ice cream from the Philippines at my local H-Mart, and it was surprisingly good. I'm still looking for good green tea and black sesame, though. What kinds of unusual ice cream do you like that can be found in stores, and what brand is it?

[Lillipop]

My son is addicted to Sunnyside Farms Circus Animal Cookie Ice Cream and he is a grown man in his late 20's.

[Kholvaitar]

If there was an Aldi's in my area, I would go for Gianni's Ice Cream Amarena Cherry.

[ipsedixit]

Pina Colada

[solarstar]

I also really like Blue Bunny's Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate frozen yogurt - it's an amaretto cherry flavor with a lot of cherry chunks and chocolate chips. It has a really refreshing flavor with a a smooth texture, I definitely recommend it :)

[linguafood]

Not a "store" per se, but I bought maple ice cream with candied PA bacon yesterday (not really candied, more like chewy.... but still. so. good.) and pistachio & sea salt, which was awesome.

[euripidez]

My college campus is big into agriculture education and raises tons of cows on local farms to do research. They have a dairy store to sell all the milk products, and about once a week I go to get their white chocolate raspberry ice cream.

[Crockett67]

Wisconsin or Michigan State?

[euripidez]

University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
http://dairystore.unl.edu/

Check it out if your'e in town! Best ice cream by far.

[Crockett67]

*reads menu* Wow! That I will do!

[Jeanne]

Wow is right! And the cheese looks fantastic!

[euripidez]

I meant to say white chocolate lavender.
But they also have white chocolate raspberry.

White chocolate lavender is what I go for, though!

[Tripeler]

White chocolate lavender is hard for me to imagine. But it must be truly tremendous as an ice cream flavor, perhaps with a small shake of course salt...

[kubasd]

UConn used to sell amazing ice cream rom their ag program cows... I wonder if they still do. Hmmmm

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

Mango-passion fruit is a fantastic ice cream flavour.

My favourite exotic ice cream is chocolate chip mint, though.

[jumpingmonk]

Up until a few years ago, I used to cap off trips to NYC with a brief visit to the Capogiro gelato stand in Grand Central looking for odd flavors. There were two I remember paticualry. One was Mint which is not so unusual as a flavor but was unusual for them (like most places Capo usually did Mint Chocolate chip, so the only time they had plain mint was when they had run short of chips) the other was Rose Petal, which they had from time to time, probably when they made too much. Rose petal is one of those flavors like Green Tea or Red Bean, it's not so much avant garde as simply common to a cuisine and culture other than the Western one. Much as it is not uncommon to find green tea ice cream if you are in an Asian milleu say at a Japanese or sometimes Chinese resturaunt) Rose ice cream is pretty common if you are eating Indian or Middle Eastern. In fact I think that is why it was so hard to get at the stand; thew were probably making batces for one or more of the Indian/Middle Eastern resturaunts, and what was at the GC stand was leftovers (they always seemed to run out quite quickly). Alas, I havent seen either for quite a while I think Capo got thier distribution system free of bugs (so that there are always enough chips to make the mint ice cream chipped, and all the rose winds up in the restuaunts.
Capo had (and has) a lot of other odd flavors, but most of those I'm not all that crazy about. There a Lebananese Yougurt geltato they have quie often, that tastes like Cheesecake (that's really the problem, I hate cheesecake) They have an appe clove sorbet around Thanksgiving, that, while a little weak on it's own, is very nice plopped in a glass of seltzer theres a lavender pear sorbet they have from time to time. And they also make a Gunniess. Actually there are a lot of odd flavors, I'm just blanking on what they are.
Similarly Capogiro Gelato (Philadelpia) also has an astonishing range of flavors. Back when they sold pints to the stores, I fell in absoulte LOVE with thier Chicolatto Scuro (bitter chocolate) which while not an odd flavor was odd in it's exceution, in that it was so darn thick. Basically it was frozen truffle insides (it's the only Ice cream I have ever found that 1. would smear instead of run so you had to be careful about where you put your fingers when you brought your dishes in to be washed (our day to day dishes are brown, not white so the lefover drips of ice cream in the bowl became almost invisible) and 2. could actually be allowed to completely melt, be refrozen and NOT SEPERATE OR CRYSTALIZE (a handy thing for carrying pints on a hot day, or dealing with an overfull freezer)

[lyden]

Another wonderful gelato is Talenti sea salt caramel, carried by Stop & Shop in New England. I actually had to stop buying it for a while because it magically disappeared from my freezer within hours ... but now I think I might get some more this weekend. The salt really balances out some of the sugar, giving a nice sweet/savory balance.

[imhungryletseat]

Ben and Jerries has a pumpkin cheescake that I enjoy. Bj's sometimes has it in quart containers...talk about doubling your pleasure!

[lyden]

Haha, reminds me of a joke my sister made : "Every night I go to bed with two men ... Ben and Jerry." I asked her, "So, what's that like?" "Well," she said, "Ben is very sweet ... but Jerry's a little cold."

[mamachef]

laughing helplessly.......omg there are so many possible riffs on this, and every last one that i can think of is filthier and filthier......your sister is brilliant, lyden.

[jumpingmonk]

If I', ever in the New England Area, I may look it up (the Stop and Shops here in the New York Area don't carry that brand I think). I havent had a lot of luck with salted caramel gelato's; Jeni's version (carried by the local branch of Balducii's) is bitter. and the Capogiro version (called Burnt Sugar) lived up to it's name. On the other hand the Jeni's line makes one called "The Milkiest Chocolate in the World" that is well worth seeking out.
If salty is in your taste, there is one other obscure one to seek out. If you are ever in the Ithaca area (specifically the Cornell part of the Ithaca area) you may want to try the mint cocolate chip the Cornell Dairy makes (it's for sale in the Cornell Creamery store, as well as a couple locations in Collegetown. I loved that stuff when I was there; it was probaly my first experiance with how good salt and choclate could be together (plus coming from a world where mint ice cream was always green, it amusued me thiers was blue) Just stay away from thier green tea, it REEKS of jasmine.

[jmcarthur8]

I got that Talenti Sea Salt Caramel here in Georgia a few weeks ago, and it is delicious. The flavor is a nice surprise in your mouth. It's totally not Weight Watchers friendly, so I have avoided that little container in the freezer, but I noticed that it's just about empty (DH is retired, I am not- guess where the treats go when I am at work? )

[Bacardi1]

Good question.

I like both Green Tea & Red Bean ice creams, but outside of certain Asian restaurants, have never seen them for sale anywhere else.

[JolokiaJen]

I would love to have a plain Peanut Butter Ice Cream, with no chocolate! I don't know why they always have to put chocolate with it. Also would like to see more coffee and cappuccino flavored ice creams. Or what about a blood orange ice cream, that would be great. Or kumquat. We don't see many exotic varieties here though. I did see an almond milk ice cream the other day that looked good.

[solarstar]

I like Friendly's Coffee, actually. It's not too sweet and has a lot of coffee flavor. Turkey Hill's Colombian Coffee and Bavarian Espresso are also some of my favorites, I love mocha/coffee flavored ice cream!

And you're right - it's always peanut butter cup in vanilla base, or chocolate with peanut butter swirl, or fudge tracks. I would like to see more peanut butter bases too!

[solarstar]

Is there an H-Mart or Whole Foods near your area? Asian supermarkets often carry those flavors, and higher end supermarkets like WF and Fairway have a brand called Mr. Green Tea that has both of those, plus ginger. (I've only had the Green Tea, but it was excellent.)

[Bacardi1]

I don't have a close H-Mart or its ilk nearby, but might be in the vicinity of a WF next week. Will have to check. Thanks!

[team_cake]

Years ago I bought a saffron-pistachio (Indian-import) ice cream. I liked it so much for it's subtle, round and nutty flavor it also became my Thanksgiving go-to for guests who wanted something extra with my homemade spicy pumpkin pie; the flavors were very complementary. I haven't looked for it too much since I moved to Oregon, but I do keep my eyes open when I'm in an Indian or Asian grocery.

[solarstar]

That sounds amazing! I'm reasonably happy with Friendly's pistachio flavor, which is all I can find around here. I don't think I've ever seen it at the Asian markets nearby.

[greygarious]

Blue Bunny has a line of flavors, containing bites of cake, by Ace of Cakes' Duff Goldman. I tried - and really like - the Red Velvet Cake one after seeing it advertised on TV. Subsequently tried the Carrot Cake, which I would not buy again. The pale tan cake tastes and looks like spice cake. The Wedding Cake flavor is nice - white cake with raspberry swirl. All three are on a vanilla ice cream base.

Peach is one of my favorites but is not always available other than in summer. A local supermarket chain no longer carries a house brand almond coconut macaroon ice cream that was great.

[rickym13]

local ice cream parlor has some unusual flavor such as:
taro
ube
lychee
brown butter
salty caramel
Guinness extra stout

[EWSflash]

Most sound not good to me but I appreciate the willingness to try new flavors

[team_cake]

Ditto on good peach ice cream! Also, I'm dying at the thought of coconut macaroon ice cream...YUM.

[solarstar]

Do you have Turkey Hill Peaches N' Cream wherever you live? :)

[team_cake]

Good question! I actually haven't got store-bought ice cream recently, or at all this summer. I've been on a homemade ice cream kick, especially with all the mint we have growing here. From a quick Google Fu check, I'm guessing the answer is "yes!" http://icecreamjournal.turkeyhill.com...

I'll keep an eye out for it now, thanks! Mmmmm....peach. It's too hot to even make ice cream here...I'd rather hit the store for a quick fix. :)

[solarstar]

I have had all of the Duff Goldman flavors besides Carrot Cake, which isn't carried by any store near me - I liked the Strawberry Shortcake and Triple Chocolate Cake the most.

[greygarious]

Yesterday I bought the Blue Bunny Bordeaux Cherry with Chocolate. VERY good stuff. Didn't realize until I tasted it, and then read the small print, that it is cherry amaretto ice cream, plus pieces of cherry and shavings of dark chocolate. Amaretto is one of my favorite flavors/liqueurs so though no one hates summer heat more than I, I am ALMOST rooting for weather hot enough to justify replacing a meal with a big portion of this stuff rather than my rigidly-enforced 4oz scoop!!!

[James Cristinian]

Were they using Chateau Latour or another first growth Bordeaux? I prefer Latour. Rooting for hot weater, my poor wife had to eat a few big spoonfuls of Blue Bell Summer Stawberry Pie to keep from overheating.

[Jeri L]

I love cake ice cream! Bought Tillamook's Grandma's Cake Batter this week. It's everything I'd hoped for. "Cake batter ice cream sprinkled with pieces of cake and frosting, and a cream cheese swirl mixed in for good measure." The cream cheese swirl actually has more the texture of marshmallow cream, but that's not a bad thing either.

[solarstar]

Anyone know whether Turkey Hill/Edy's/anything else in the Northeast is making any apple pie/pumpkin pie/gingerbread flavors this year? I also can't wait for the Edy's spumoni!

[EWSflash]

I look forward to the fall's offering Pumpkin Pie - or just pumpkin ice cream. It's one of the best things I've ever had!

[jmcarthur8]

This used to be common, but now it seems to be seasonal...Spumoni! Edy's makes it, and I get it when I can, but I remember when that was the ice cream that restaurants offered in the little stainless bowls when I was a kid. (that, and peppermint, which was always my choice back then)

[pinehurst]

This was one of the great joys of my childhood. It's one of the flavors I lament not seeing more of...ditto for the lemon ice cream mentioned above (and for that matter, lemon sherbet...all my store carries is lime and "rainbow" with sometimes, quarts of watermelon in the summer)

[cayjohan]

For the lemon lovers out there, Haagen-Dazs makes the Zesty Lemon sorbet and the "Five" label lemon ice cream. Both are delicious.

[EWSflash]

Oh, that is good!

[James Cristinian]

Blue Bell does a Cotton Candy with pink and blue swirls. Very tasty.

[EWSflash]

Green tea.

[EWSflash]

Also plum, and red bean. And Cookies and Cream, Rocky Road, Peach, Marshmallow, and several other old-style ice creams from Baskin-Robbins, like Cherry Sour Ice. I also remember the old ice cream rolls, where chocolate cake and vanila ice cream were layered and rolled up. Neither one was at its best when you sliced the log up, but it was wonderful anyway.

[Querencia]

In the 1940's a popular ice cream flavor was Orange-Pineapple. I don't understand why somebody doesn't revive it. Have not seen it in years. Is anybody making it?

[thinks too much]

I had some last year at an ice cream stand outside Slippery Rock, PA. Ordered it because I couldn't tell you the last time I saw it on a menu. I wasn't disappointed either.

[greygarious]

I think it must be sold by whoever makes bases for ice cream stands that purport to have homemade ice cream, because it seems like all the stands in the Boston suburbs have mostly the same choices, and all have Orange-Pineapple.

[solarstar]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good goat's milk ice cream? I've been trying to get some Laloo's black fig but haven't found it so far.

[lynnlato]

Jeni's has a goat cheese and cherry flavor. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my short list.

[ipsedixit]

In order of preference (from best to worst), goat's milk ice cream that I've tried:

1. Brazos
2. Palapa Azul (Cajeta)
3. Jeni's
4. Laloo's

[JungMann]

If you can get Selecta, try their ube (purple yam) or macapuno (mutant coconut) flavors. The ube is especially my favorite.

[solarstar]

Having run out of mango, I stopped by H-Mart and picked up a ube-macapuno swirl flavor. It's excellent, thanks for the recommendation! :)

[Jeri L]

I was going to say Macapuno! I was introduced to it by Philapino coworkers. It's coconut, but better.

[JungMann]

Not only does it taste amazing, you get to tell people you're eating mutant coconuts! Or so says the English translation on the label.

[mamachef]

I looked here on a lark, and there it was, Selecta ube. That stuff is exceptional. Now I just need to figure out a recipe for black-sesame tuiles sturdy enough to scoop it up with. :)

[Tripeler]

Mamachef,
Have you ever had the purple "Ube" ice cream from Mitchell's in San Francisco? I wonder how similar the Selecta is to that?
But I have to say, if Bi-rite's Salted Caramel is ever commercialized into supermarkets, it would be a tremendous hit.

[mamachef]

Tripeler, I have had Mitchell's ube - delicious; ultracreamy and very flavorsome. V. similar to the Selecta - but minus a tang the Selecta has that puts if JUST over the edge. Now, onto the next: BITE YOUR TONGUE!! This could only ever happen if somehow it got marketed in small batches......that is such amazing ice cream, to mass-market it would be tragic; sorta like what happned w/ Sticky Chewy Chocolate. :( But yeah: if it could be done right, *kaboom!* (Try it with dark hot fudge, salted pecans and unsweetened whipped cream sometime.......)

[Tripeler]

Accckkk. Just thinking bout that makes my tongue swell up!

[mamachef]

In a good way, right? :) nut allergy?

[Tripeler]

In a GOOD way, oh yeah! Dark hot fudge and salted pecans!

[JungMann]

Selecta ube is tangy? I haven't had commercial ube ice cream since I went low carb, but man, if I can find a pint somewhere, I may have to blow some carbs on trying this purple temptress.

[mamachef]

Oui, good sir. Just an edge. I think it's worth going off the wagon for. Just once. You can quit anytime you want to. NO loss of control here, folks. :)
Give it a try. You live but once.

[makeit_alice]

WOW! Definitely want to try these!

[Crockett67]

Jeni's Ice Cream Pistachio & Honey. But really you can't go wrong with anything from the line.

[lynnlato]

I love Jeni's! I am dying to try her Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry flavor... and all of her other flavors. They all sound delicious: http://www.jenis.com/categories/Flavors/

A local restaurant here in Charlotte, Ilios Noche, does a basil ice cream that I love. And another restaurant, Halcyon, just did a Sriracha sweet potato ice cream that has me wanting a taste.

[Crockett67]

Hmmm, the basil sounds refreshing. But after trying a few hot ice creams, I stick to the sweeter ones. lol!

Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry is nice, you will probably like the Brambleberry crisp one as well.

[Perilagu Khan]

Nowadays lemon is unusual. It's my favorite, and I never see it anymore. Life without lemon ice cream is hellish indeed.

[solarstar]

Turkey Hill sells Southern Lemon Pie, I believe, though no store around here carries it. I love Trader Joe's Lemon and Triple Ginger Snap ice cream, though. One other flavor I wish would be more easily accessible is cinnamon!

[biondanonima]

My grocery stores always seem to have the Haagen Dazs Five in Lemon flavor, although I haven't tried it. I generally go for lemon sorbet but I'm sure the ice cream is delicious as well.

[Exy00]

It's quite tasty, tart and pretty intensely lemony which really cuts through the richness of the ice cream nicely.