Mayo Ice Cream Exists And People Feel All Kinds Of Ways About It
The ice cream counter is a special place, breathing nostalgic memories of melting vanilla cones or the taste of a soothing mint chocolate chip. You may have a fairly rudimentary approach to scoops of ice cream, always choosing a trustworthy favorite. But, if you decide to peer over to the other wondrous flavors available, you may find your mind blown. Let's start with mayo ice cream.
Mayonnaise ice cream is not a new concept; remember when that shop specialized in mayo-ketchup ice cream? Mayo ice cream made viral waves because it split the online community. In 2018, the ICE Artisan Ice Cream shop in Falkirk, Scotland, produced this exact flavor, and since then, it has been met with mixed reviews.
Some are pleasantly surprised with how well the flavor works as an ice cream, commenting on how the creaminess of the mayo is the perfect addition. However, others have called it nothing short of sacrilege. Ultimately, you'll need to decide for yourself.
An ice cream revelation
Mayonnaise is now commonly used in baked goods – to add moisture to banana bread, for example — so technically, why wouldn't it work in ice cream? Kyle Gentleman, owner of ICE and creator of this mayo flavor, described the taste as a mixture of fat and cream that's wonderfully followed by an aftertaste of egg and milk (via Spoon University).
After the mayo ice cream made the rounds on social media, one user responded to ICE's Instagram post with "Naughty and tangy, what's not to love?!" Sure enough, the tangy edge of mayonnaise is apparent in the eggy-ness. If you're apprehensive about savory dessert flavors, consider other popular pairings like salted caramel, lemon and olive oil, and dessert pizzas.
Mayonnaise ice cream alone might not be your vibe, but there's a way it could also be paired to complement other sweet flavors. In Japan in 2019, Morinaga released the first mayonnaise-flavored ice cream to Japanese audiences. It was a mayonnaise ice cream with white chocolate in the center and a cookie-crumb-inspired shell. It was described as a salty, rich treat whose white chocolate filling dominated the taste buds — feeling slightly more inclined now?
Sticking to vanilla?
The internet explodes when the bizarre and wonderful meet. Sometimes it's positive, and sometimes it's enraged. With the release of Kyle Gentleman's mayo ice cream, many took to Twitter (now known as X) to express disgust, including comments like "Hard pass" and "If you plan to eat mayonnaise flavored ice cream, unfollow and block me. If you have my number too, delete it."
If you missed this viral thread, you might check out the online critics' responses to the dish. In the Philly Voice, Brian Hikey's strong words described the flavor as if you had "grabbed a hoagie wrapper from a shaded trashcan outside Wawa and licked it for sustenance."
It's not everyone's cup of tea, but that is no surprise when you consider how everyone's taste buds are different and how this impacts what our flavor receptors like and don't. Before judging this peculiar flavored ice cream, or any other for that matter, remember that one person's trash is another person's treasure. Uncommon food combinations are testing the bounds of the culinary world. While mayo ice cream may not be for you, something else a little unconventional might be.