We said it once and we will say it again: Pickles are having a comeback. Even if they never left your kitchen, they are certainly emerging as a culinary force that goes beyond funky pickling flavors. These briny cucumbers are showing up everywhere and we mean everywhere. There are whiskey pickles, moonshine pickles, giant gummy pickles, pickle sodas, pickle mints, and even pickle candy canes. It makes sense that these fermented foods are becoming more popular along with other fermentation specialties, like kimchi and kombucha. Just when you think you've seen it all (pickle cupcakes, anyone?), Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. just debuted pickle ice cream.
You did not misread that, it is indeed pickle ice cream (well, technically pickle soft serve). Is it just pickle brine in the soft serve ice cream flavor, or are there pickle chunks? Is it salty like a dill pickle, or sweet like bread and butter pickles? Would you pair peanut butter cookies with it for an ice cream sandwich? When it comes to dill pickle ice cream, it seems there are more questions than answers since it's such a new treat. However, there are some early opinions.
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If the early reviews are any indication, this pickle-flavored soft-serve is indeed delicious. Unfortunately, it's only available in New York City, so if you're thinking of making a trip to the Big Apple soon, put this on your list for the Upper West Side. The rest of us will just be inspired by this wacky flavor combination.
It's not the first time that someone has thought of dill pickle ice cream. Home cooks have been playing with the pickle combinations for years, and Well Done even turned their recipe into a video.
This uses bread and butter pickle juice for a sweeter taste, rather than the salty and tangy dill flavor. It's similar to a vanilla ice cream base, but it's really the salted peanut butter topping that takes the cake on top of this pickle-flavored ice cream. Find the full recipe here.
Now, we just need to learn how to make a pickle ice cream cake so we can serve it up to all our dill-obsessed friends. I think we can make that happen in the Test Kitchen. Let us know in the comments if you're interested in pickle ice cream recipes!
This article was originally published May 31, 2019
