Things are getting weird in the world of ice cream. First, French's created mustard-flavored ice cream for National Mustard Day. Then, in response to that, Oscar Mayer created the "Ice Dog Sandwich".

Fast Company:

Oscar Mayer, which is waging a Twitter war with French’s as we speak, teamed up with New York City-based Il Laboratorio Del Gelato to corrupt some perfectly good gelato with real bits of candied Oscar Mayer hot dogs, swirled with spicy Dijon Gelato, and “hot dog sweet cream,” a phrase that cannot be typed without gagging.

That unholy combination will be smooshed into hot dog shape, served on a cookie bun, and dubbed the Ice Dog Sandwich to mark the definitely not-made-up holiday of National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, aka August 2. That faux holiday is no excuse for this behavior, Oscar Mayer. The hot dog-flavored ice cream sandwiches will be bestowed upon the unlucky people of New York the week of August 12...

Who eats just mustard @Frenchs? Condiments were made for Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Say hello to the Oscar Mayer Ice Dog Sandwich - 🌭 flavored ice cream, made with our better hot dogs, sandwiched with spicy mustard 🍦. Do you want to try this? Coming in August🔥 #OscarMayerIceCream

— Oscar Mayer (@oscarmayer) August 1, 2019

screenshot via Oscar Mayer Read the rest

So, for National Mustard Day (August 3), French's thought to make mustard-flavored ice cream. They're selling their horrible concoction for a limited time on both coasts:

To celebrate National Mustard Day on the West Coast, Coolhaus’s location in Culver City, CA will have the ice cream available on August 2-4 and August 9-11. On the East Coast, New Yorkers can look for the French’s Mustard Ice Cream truck on August 1 and 2, before making its way out to the Hamptons on August 3...

August 2 Madison Square Park Brooklyn Heights (DUMBO)

August 3 Main Street Hamptons East Hampton Main Beach on Ocean Ave.

Or, you can make your own. Because, why not? French's leads the way:

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I scream, you scream, we all scream when babies eat ice cream off their own foot!

I don't have any information on who this little person is but if you talk to them, tell'em I approve.

(Rock 95)

Thanks, Andy! Read the rest

Because they can, that's why (and because it's National Ice Cream Month, and because, marketing.)

For a limited time, LongHorn Steakhouse is serving steak and bourbon-flavored ice cream -- complete with swirls of jerky, steak sprinkles, char seasoning, and a Jim Beam caramel sauce -- in its participating restaurant locations nationwide.

This boozy, meat-filled ice cream is also available in to-go pints.

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Introducing Steak & Bourbon Ice Cream. A chilled take on LongHorn’s legendary steak. Available on July 1st at select locations. www.longhornsteakhouse.com/steakicecream

A post shared by LongHorn Steakhouse (@longhornsteaks) on Jun 25, 2019 at 7:12am PDT

My 14-year-old thinks it might be the most "Ron Swanson" thing ever, and I don't think she's wrong.

Thanks, Josh A. Cagan! Read the rest

There's a plot of land in Vermont where ice cream flavors go when they die. Located next to the Waterbury home of Ben & Jerry's plant and headquarters, the Flavor Graveyard is the final resting place for the company's discontinued flavors such as Wavy Gravy, White Russian, and (32) more.

Travel + Leisure:

“Ben & Jerry’s is known for outrageous, chunky, funky flavors,” said Flavor Guru Eric Fredette in a company press release. “But experimentation comes with risk, and not everybody likes our edgier ideas. Like everything else, ice cream flavors have a beginning and an end.”

This year, visitors who take a Ben & Jerry's factory tour, along with a visit to the Flavor Graveyard, between Oct. 29 and 31 will be treated to a sample of a limited edition pumpkin pie ice cream available only in Waterbury.

You can also visit their virtual burial ground and, if you wish, submit a request to "resurrect" any of the dead flavors. Zombie Schweddy Balls, anyone?

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What the hell, Scotland? Why would you ruin perfectly good ice cream by putting the devil's condiment -- mayonnaise -- into it?!

Artisanal ice cream shop ICE Falkirk, the creators of Mayonnaise Ice Cream, have some 'splaining to do.

image via ICEFalkirk, used with permission

(Delish) Read the rest

On June 20, the U.S. Postal Service will roll out Frozen Treats, the first ever scratch-and-sniff stamps. Artist Margaret Berg of Santa Monica, California created the watercolored illustrations of ice pops featured on these special First-Class Mail Forever postage stamps.

The stamps feature illustrations of frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick. Today, Americans love cool, refreshing ice pops on a hot summer day. The tasty, sweet confections come in a variety of shapes and flavors. Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.

The stamps are available for pre-order now. Read the rest

Janelle Shane (previously) is a delightful AI researcher who likes to use machine learning systems to produce absurd, inhuman outputs, such as a list of AI-created notional ice-cream flavors generated by merging a list of real ice-cream flavors with a list of metal band names and pressing "go." Read the rest

In a real life case of "We can pickle that," New York City's Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. has pickled... ice cream. Well, sort of, they made pickle-flavored soft serve.

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This pickle ice cream situation kinda tastes like that bath and body works cucumber lotion from the 90s, but I still like it?

A post shared by Ariel Knutson (@arielknutson) on May 12, 2018 at 8:30am PDT

It sells for $5/serving.

Previously: Pickle juice slushies are coming to Sonic Drive-In this summer

(Food and Wine)

pickle image via Wikipedia Read the rest

It sounds like a joke but this is not a joke. For a limited time, east coast ice cream brand Friendly's is offering a "Nor'easter Pothole" flavor in the frozen food aisle, a regional nod to the destruction those storms cause on the roads.

Apparently potholes taste like "chocolate ice cream with black tar fudge creme cookie gravel and chocolate asphalt chips."

(NJ.com) Read the rest

West coast ice creamery Salt & Straw isn't encouraging anyone to give up their Thanksgiving day meal, but they are making a version that is cold and creamy to ingest.

For the month of November, you can order their five-pint "Thanksgiving Dinner of Ice Cream Series," as follows (descriptions via Los Angeles Magazine):

-- Sweet Potato Casserole with Maple Pecans ("Sweet potatoes are roasted down and mixed with cream and sugar to make a sweet, spicy, sticky ice cream. Then Oregon pecans are mixed and caramelized with maple sugar. It is then of course topped off with hand-churned ribbons of Salt & Straw’s own delicious homemade gooey maple fluff.")

-- Buttered Mashed Potatoes & Gravy ("Salt & Straw has made over 600 different flavors of ice cream, and this is hands-down the most savory one ever served. Salt & Straw makes a potato- flavored ice cream, thanks to the real potatoes boiled down until the starch turns to sugar, and then stirs in their own homemade gravy fudge made from two mashed-up recipes, pun very much intended.")

-- Apple Cranberry Stuffing

-- Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey ("Turkey stock is cooked and mixed with sugar, spices and onions down until it bubbles into a caramel, which creates the base of the salted caramel ice cream. And Salt & Straw also roasts turkey skin until it’s crispy and then candy-coat it and mix bits of that in, too.")

-- Spiced Goat Cheese & Pumpkin Pie ("It starts with goat-cheese ice cream, which is sprinkled with pumpkin pie spices, but the generous helping of mashed pumpkin folded and swirled in really steals the show.")

All five pints are available now for $65 plus shipping. Read the rest

First they came for the drumming jobs, now the robots are honing in on our ice cream serving gigs, as evidenced by this video by MrEricSir.

Outside of Bi-Rite Creamery on Sunday, a mysterious headless robot torso with no (known) name was found scooping up free ice cream.

MrEricSir writes:

A guy waving around a pair of HTC Vive controllers caused the two arms to scoop up ice cream and sprinkles...

The robot did seem to have a camera in its “head,” and I noticed there was an unused Vive virtual reality headset sitting on the table. The desktop PC controlling everything had a high-end GeForce GTX graphics card glowing from under the case’s grill which seemed capable of driving the headset. When I asked the operator if the VR headset worked with this contraption he confirmed that it does, though he said it’s difficult to see what he’s doing while wearing the headset.

I vote we anthropomorphize this robot as soon as possible. At the very least, Let's put a mannequin head on Icecream McIcecreamface.

(SFist)

Thanks, Kent Barnes! Read the rest

Little Baby's Ice Cream in Philadelphia is known for their oddly-flavored ice cream (and, their bizarro ads) but they've outdone themselves with their latest icy offering. Since mid-June, the frozen dessert purveyor has been serving up PIZZA ICE CREAM. What makes it pizza-y? Tomato, basil, oregano, salt and garlic. For some people, that just isn't enough pizza pie, so they've taken upon themselves to plop a scoop on top of a hot slice of pizza.

(USAToday)

Previously, the pizza lovers edition: Pizza slice-shaped bags for, well, your slices of pizza Read the rest

HAPPY MUTANTS DAY OF ICE CREAM

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BY THE PUBLISHER OF BOING BOING, A DIRECTORY OF WONDERFUL THINGS

A PROCLAMATION

A notional pride spins the Happy Mutant soul and congests the Happy Mutant heart. We are people, united by a common path of evolution. Beyond that, we have art. Some, maybe not even that.

Ice cream is a treat for many Happy Mutants, and to serve that ice cream we must have a scoop, or a large yet very strong spoon. Bowls would also help, cones optional. Read the rest

What would you do? Not much if you are my daughter. She offered me the remaining half of hers, not enjoying her few bites. I bought the Heath Bar variety. Read the rest

So tragic yet I... can't... look... away.

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Brenham, Texas-based BlueBell Creameries has launched a new "Camo 'n Cream" camouflage ice cream. It's a combo, containing pistachio almond, milk chocolate and cream cheese flavors. The packaging features woodland pattern camouflage which I guess makes sense given the ice cream was launched on the first day of dove hunting season in texas. Yum?

(Houston Chronicle) Read the rest