Salt & Straw has made quite the impression since opening on Larchmont Boulevard one year ago. The ice cream shop, which originally hails from Portland, quickly gained a following for its unique, decadent flavors, and for partnering up with local shops and personalities (we're looking at you, Roy Choi—thanks for the Papi's Korean Fluffernutter). And now? Well, now they're using bugs—real bugs—in their ice cream.
Salt & Straw's Spooktacular series launches today and includes five Halloween-focused flavors conceived by co-founder and head ice cream maker Tyler Malek. Most notably is the Creepy Crawly Critters, an insect-laden batch that suspends grasshoppers, ants and other insects in hard candy amber, which are then mixed into a green-grass ice cream. You can find a handful of restaurants and bars around LA that use insects in their food and drink—Tacoteca, Guelaguetza, Cocina Condesa, Night + Market Song—but this is the first time we've heard of bugs in ice cream. We're kind of digging it?
Other flavors in the Spooktacular series include Candy Corn, A Potion of Malicious Delight, The Great Candycopia and Essence of Ghost, which is a sherbet that, apparently, sends shivers up your spine (most likely it will give you brain freeze). The series will be available starting today, and will continue until October 31, which gives you plenty of time to get used to the flavor of grasshopper. Just think of the protein!