As you fill your life with the experience of trying the strange but real ice cream flavors being created by artisan ice cream shops, you’ll find yourself motivated to try every flavor. Marking those unique tastes off your list becomes a badge of honor, and at Harmony Valley Creamery we’re committed to your success in this endeavor. (Start with our six signature flavors!)
However, this bold undertaking comes with some risks. You might, one day, come across a flavor that makes you long for your cookies ‘n’ cream comfort zone. To protect your taste buds, allow us to warn you: skip the ambergris ice cream.
But it sounds so exotic! So flavorful!
It’s flavorful all right, but maybe not in the way you would want. This article on First We Feast offers a detailed description of ambergris:
“Ambergris forms when sperm whales cannot digest squid beaks; the beak gets stuck in the intestines where it is coated with a waxy substance and is somehow released (scientists are not sure if it passes or the whale dies). The ball of ambergris floats along the ocean surface until it’s washed ashore and collected.”
In case that’s not clear, check out this video.
Hold on a second. Why would anyone eat that?
The first documented ice cream recipe comes to us from 1665 and suggests ambergris as a go-to flavor. It was a popular fragrance and flavoring back in the old times, and who knows why the old-timey people did anything. Perhaps their taste buds weren’t as refined. If we had been there, we’d have recommended some Blue Door Butter Pecan or Doo Dah Mint ‘n’ Chip. We’re sorry, history. We were too slow, and you had to eat ambergris because of it.
Fortunately, we’re making up for it now. Even though the whale migration is beginning along California’s central coast, you will not be seeing any ambergris ice cream on our Scoop Truck. Instead, we’ll be serving our craft ice cream in risk-free flavors you know you’ll love. Contact us or visit us on Twitter to stay up-to-speed on the Scoop Truck’s whereabouts and get your non-ambergris ice cream fix.
