From the guys that brought you Pearl Harbour

[Trevor F]

Ever tried sushi ice cream ? Ever tried eating ice cream with chopsticks ?

The latest from the Yokohama ice cream festival :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... tival.html


Makes you want to stick to wine.

[Matilda L]

Can't say I'm attracted by the idea of eel or raw horse flavoured ices ... mind you, I don't much fancy eel or raw horse in any form.

Readers brought up on Enid Blyton may recall the Magic Faraway Tree. The children around whom the stories centred had a naughty cousin, whose name I don't remember. They visited a magic land where there was an ice cream man who would give you whatever flavour you asked for. Naughty Cousin asked for sardine ice cream, thinking she would embarrass the man into saying he didn't have any. But he did: and she had to eat it. Eight year olds in my third grade class in the 1960s thought this very funny.

I'm not averse to savoury ices though: I have a recipe somewhere for camembert ice (to be served with hot biscuits) that I must dig out.

Matilda

[alex metags]

I doubt anyone eats that kind of ice cream regularly. The local flavours that are popular in Japan are much more mundane, for example green tea, marron (chestnut), and azuki (red beans). And of course customers there, like elsewhere, love the usual suspects like chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and coffee ice cream.

Incidentally, I ate ice cream with chopsticks on more than a few occasions while living in Japan. Works just fine.

[Daniel Rogov]

As to new and what some will consider odd flavors of ice creams and sorbets, in the last decade or so many of the world's best known (and sometimes best) chefs have taken to such treats and sometimes they are actually splendid. Looking over my notes for example I find that in France, Israel, Madrid, and Milan that I have had - among others - chili flavored ice cream, truffled sorbet, green tea ice cream, tarragon ice cream, bacon flavored ice cream, oyster and chili pepper sorbet and basil-tarragon flavored ice cream. The point of most good Western chefs (I cannot speak to the Far Eastern versions) is not to make you think you're eating tarragon or oysters or chili peppers but to give a tantalizing hint that teases the palate in ways that make you both think and smile.

Best
Rogov

[Matilda L]

Now, if someone can come up with a recipe for chocolate chilli ice cream, I'd be interested.
Matilda