5 Bizarre Ice Cream Flavors You Never Heard About

When it comes to food, what is a staple in one country may be considered bizarre in another. One country’s classic is another country’s exotic novelty treat. One’s hot trend is another’s time-honored tradition. Internet lists abound featuring weird, attention-grabbing, and faddish ice cream flavors like lobster, squid ink, or horseradish. In contrast, this list presents weird and unique ice cream flavors that are decidedly not strange in their countries of origin. Here are 5 of the most popular ice cream flavors you’ve probably never heard of.

# Mastic

Mastic is an ancient Greek ingredient, a plant resin that is sold in the form of small crystals. These crystals can be crushed into a powder and used to flavor pastries, puddings, ice cream, and more.

Like pretty much every other item on this list, it can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. The powder is mixed with salt for savory dishes and sugar for sweet dishes. Mastic is said to be an acquired taste that is similar to pine needles—something most people (at least Americans) associate more with car air fresheners than with food.

# Kinako

Kinako means “yellow flour” in Japanese, but this unassuming name belies a uniquely delicious ingredient. Kinako is a fine, sand-colored powder made from roasted soybeans and used primarily in Japan to give a toasty, nutty flavor to pastries and sweets.

# Rosewater

Floral flavors are not very popular in the US these days, where flowers generally conjure thoughts of perfume rather than delicious treats. It hasn’t always been that way, though. Rosewater is exactly what it sounds like—a liquid made by distilling rose petals with steam. Abroad, it is an exceedingly common flavoring to this day and can be found in countless international sweets, from Turkish baklava to Indian lassi to Persian ice cream.

# Tamarind

Tamarind may not be considered the prettiest of fruits, but what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in flavor. It grows in long, lumpy pods and bears a sticky brown pulp. However, that pulp has a delicious sweet-and-sour flavor that is used in cuisine all around the world in dishes both sweet and savory.

# Black Sesame

Black sesame ice cream is to Asia what vanilla ice cream is to the United States. When ground, the sesame seeds become creamy. They add a charcoal color and a rich, nutty flavor to ice cream and other dishes. The depth and complexity of black sesame seeds can also be compared to dark chocolate or coffee, flavors which are enlivened by toasting the seeds before using them.