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For some people, ice cream flavors like vanilla, mint chip or rocky road just aren’t enough. Instead, ice cream has become an “experience” instead of a sweet treat. Now it seems the crazier or more gimmicky the combination, the better. Just in time for summer, here are flavors that put the “scream” in ice cream.
Related: I Tried Cannabis-Infused Ice Cream — Here's What Happened
Van Leeuwen is no stranger to controversial flavors, having previously created a mac and cheese-flavored ice cream. The brand was up to old gimmicks again when they created their limited edition pizza-flavored ice cream. The crazy combination of cream cheese and mozzarella ice cream mixed with tomato jam swirls and basil crust cookies is probably not something you’d buy on repeat, hence its short run.
Some New Englanders love lobster so much that they’re even willing to eat it in ice cream. Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium is famous for adding buttered lobster meat to their butter pecan ice cream. You can find shops in Bar Harbor, Maine and Falmouth, Massachusetts. It’s become a repeat attraction for hordes of customers who can’t get enough of the meaty treat.
Ice cream is loved by all ages, but beer ice cream is for adults only. Frozen Pints ice cream contains actual craft beer in its flavors. Supposedly the idea for the brand started when someone knocked a beer into an ice cream vat. The ice cream contains less alcohol than one glass of beer per serving. However, ice cream lovers know how hard it is not to eat an entire pint at once, making this flavor 'buzz'worthy for sure.
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Leo’s Ice Cream in Carlisle, Pennsylvania offers a huge range of fun and tasty flavors but the weirdest on the menu is undoubtedly habanero cornbread. The flavor features cornbread batter ice cream mixed with a kick of habanera. The second oddest flavor is grapenut, which we're assuming tastes better than the actual breakfast cereal.
The Salt & Straw ice cream chain is known for offering out-of-the-norm flavors such as strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper and arbequina olive oil. But we particularly question the choice of pear and blue cheese ice cream, considered one of the shop’s classic flavors. Blue cheese crumbles in ice cream just sounds like something we can live without.
Sweet Republic, located in Phoenix, AZ, jumps on the bandwagon of spicy ice cream with their jalapeño avocado flavor. That flavor sounds fabulous for chips and guacamole, but for ice cream, it gives pause. After all, how refreshing can it be on a hot day if you need something to quench your thirst after eating it?
Sunni Sky’s might offer the only ice cream on the planet that requires you to sign a waiver. The flavor Cold Sweat is so incredibly spicy, it’s not allowed to be consumed by expectant mothers, potentially expectant mothers, and people with vision or respiratory problems. "By signing the liability waiver, I understand and take 100 percent full responsibility for all risks and consequences as a result of the consumption of this product," the form reads. Thanks, we’ll stick with chocolate chip.
The Creole Creamery in New Orleans offers yummy flavors like chocolate amaretto cheesecake and petit four, but also some seasonal flavors that sound anything but sweet. For example, you can get a nice scoop of pine forest, which we imagine tasting like a car air freshener.
Related: 50 Ice Cream Shops With Unique Treats Across the Country
Il Laboratorio Del Gelato in New York City is known for creating hundreds of unusual flavors, running the gamut from cucumber to beet to cheddar cheese. But we take pause at fig, fresh brown turkey. We imagine it tasting similar to Thanksgiving dinner, but in an ice cream cone.
Pancakes for breakfast? Yes! Pancakes in your ice cream? We’re not sold on yes or no. Jeni’s Ice Creams mixes pancakes with salted butter and maple syrup-flavored ice cream to create a dessert that is reminiscent of what you ate for breakfast. Depending on whether you think breakfast should remain breakfast, this flavor is either crazy or sounds incredible.
Related: This Is the Most Popular Pancake Topping In Your State (Besides Syrup)
