The Secrets Behind Salt & Straw's Unique Ice Cream Flavors - Exclusive

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Salt & Straw, the Portland-based creamery known for inventive flavors and "farm-to-cone" ethos. Founded in 2011 by cousins Kim and Tyler Malek, the company began with a mission to work with local artisans, farmers, and craftsmen to create flavors that cooperate with the community and tell a "culinary story." This mission has helped solidify Salt & Straw's cult following, along with some decidedly crave-able flavors that are unlike anything else we've seen in the ice cream world. Flavors like Duck Crackling and Cherry Preserves or Arbequina Olive Oil put this ice cream company on the map and even caught the attention of big stars like Oprah.

We caught up with Tyler Malek to hear about Salt & Straw's upcoming flavors and the new shop opening in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles in hopes that we might learn a bit about what it takes to make the perfect scoop.

In the process of making a new flavor, Malek told us the first question is always, "What is the theme? What's the story we're trying to tell?" For his research and development team, the theme can be based on seasons, chefs, partners, or even nonprofit programs like the "Upcycled Food" flavor series. The theme is the "hardest part of every project for us," says Malek. After that, the inspiration just starts flooding in.

Once a theme is chosen, the flavor practically "makes itself," as Malek told us. If you are struggling to come up with something original in your ice cream making, take a step back and try to hone in on a theme. It could be something simple, like seasonal produce, or something personal to you, like a favorite childhood dessert. Cooking from the heart in this way will always yield something greater than something with no soul, even if the best possible ingredients and techniques are used.

Some say, "when in doubt, throw it out," but with 119 billion pounds of food getting wasted each year in the U.S., per Feeding America, wouldn't it be better to let some of that waste inspire something new? Salt & Straw's June menu features "upcycled food," proving that food waste can actually be a food win. In a bid to realign the public's perception of food waste, Malek reached out to the community to find sources of perfectly good and edible food that were otherwise going into the trash.

Spare Food Co. makes a delicious tonic using the whey leftover from Brooklyn-based yogurt makers, The White Mustache, and that whey is now getting another outlet in Salt & Straw's Lemon Curd & Whey flavor. Portland-based Urban Gleaners rounded up some day-old bread for the Bread Pudding and Chocolate Ganache flavor, and Blue Stripes Cacao helped create the Cacao Pulp and Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato.

It never hurts to think outside of the box. Some of the unusual ingredients that have popped up in Salt & Straw ice creams include blue cheese, potato salad, bone marrow, duck skin, and even sea urchins. Of all these flavors that have come and gone over the years, Malek's favorite is the Arbequina Olive Oil. The rich peppery flavor of the olive oil plays perfectly with the creamy ice cream base and creates an ultra-silky texture. Without branching outside the bounds of ingredients traditionally thought of as "dessert," this famous flavor may not have ever happened (which would've been so sad to us).

Of course, these unusual ingredients are not used just for the sake of being strange. Each has certain properties that contribute to the overall flavor and texture. Just like miso can be the umami-rich ingredient that elevates caramel sauce, olive oil can easily elevate ice cream.

Anything that gets added to ice cream, be it a cookie crumble or a ribbon of caramel, will change in texture once frozen. The ice cream itself will transfer moisture and fat as well, which can lead to sogginess, crystallization, and other unpleasant textures. The science of food is an important thing to keep in mind when making ice cream as it can dramatically impact the final texture.

According to Malek, sometimes you have to denature an ingredient a bit to get it to work. For example, the ice cream developers at Salt & Straw toast brownies to a biscotti texture before folding them into the ice cream to ensure it doesn't get soggy. High-sugar ingredients like the jam in the Wild-foraged Berry Pie flavor have to be just the right thickness to still be gooey once frozen, even if that means making it a completely different way than you would ordinarily. Malek also likes to keep the seeds in the marionberry jam, because the crunchy texture adds to the experience.

True perfection requires a lot of trial and error, and all chefs know that the best way to cook and develop new flavors is to taste, taste, and taste some more. Malek told us that each flavor that reaches stores goes through on average 15 rounds of tasting before being approved. Malek has regular meetings with his research and development team, where he tastes what amounts to "a full pint of ice cream almost every day."

All this tasting helps drive the ever-present pursuit of perfection and is the only way to ensure that everything is staying consistent batch-to-batch, even as raw produce can change in texture and flavor by the week. Taste your base, your mix-ins, and the final product. Be sure to taste outside your own creations, as well. Tasting ice creams from other manufacturers can help get the creative juices flowing, and help you narrow down what exactly makes a certain flavor so great.

Even though ice cream is a dessert, the best desserts have more dimension than just sweetness. At a certain point, straight sugar can start to be a bit boring for the taste buds. One of Salt & Straw's most popular flavors is the Salted, Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. While many other ice cream companies offer just a simple chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, this company sets this classic flavor apart from the rest by adding Jacobsen sea salt and malt that is typically used to make amber ale.

By backing off the sweetness a touch and harmonizing other flavors like rich malt and sea salt, the end result takes on a deliciously interesting and crave-able flavor that's hard to put down. Other flavors can help temper the sweetness while also maximizing flavor, like acidity from fruit or vinegar or bitterness from coffee or dark chocolate (even though dark chocolate prices may be rising).