“Each month we create new flavors made with the best locally sourced ingredients that reflect flavors of the local foods and artisan community. Make sure to get them before they’re gone” Kim Malek said.

Malek, founder of Salt & Straw, had been dreaming of creating an ice cream shop since 1996. One day, Kim and her cousin, Tyler Malek, got in contact with each other and coincidentally were both working towards similar food driven goals.

Tyler had been experimenting with ice cream flavors and when Kim offered him position as head ice cream maker, he accepted and immediately dropped his life in Seattle to drive to Portland the next day. Today, Kim and Tyler’s dream lives on not only in Portland, but Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim (Disneyland), and Los Angeles.

Located on the corner of East Pike and Boylston, Salt & Straw has been serving Capitol Hill unique, incredible ice cream flavors since their doors opened in February of 2018. The Capitol Hill scoop shop was the second Salt & Straw scoop shop to open, just a year after the grand opening of Salt & Straw’s first storefront in Portland, Oregon.

Salt & Straw is known not only for its unique flavors, but also for its locally sourced ingredients. Each scoop shop has its permanent classic flavors which are always available and feature ice creams with ingredients from local businesses. Capitol Hill has classic flavors like Rachel’s Raspberry Ginger Beer and Beecher’s Cheese with Peppercorn Toffee.

In addition to each location’s unique classic flavors, Salt & Straw also offers monthly specialty flavors that rotate, with a new theme every month. For the month of November, Salt & Straw is offering five specialty flavors, titled “A Thanksgiving celebration.”

These five flavors are extra special because they were created with the intention of each flavor representing one course of a five course Thanksgiving feast.

Ice cream number 1 is Sweet Potato Casserole with Maple Pecans. This ice cream is a sweet potato based ice cream with ribbons of maple syrup and marshmallow fluff, and combined with candied pecans. This ice cream is gluten-free and had a very sweet, creamy flavor. The sweet potato base wasn’t too overpowering, and the crunch from the candied pecans really made me feel Thanksgiving.

The second ice cream is Roasted Cranberry Sauce Sorbet. This ice cream is unique in that it is made with three different types of cranberry foods: roasted cranberries, cranberry juice, and candied cranberry jam. Not only is it vegan, but this flavor is gluten and dairy free. The tartness from the cranberries really balanced out the sweetness from the first ice cream.

Ice cream number three is Roasted Peach and Sage Cornbread Stuffing. This ice cream has a sage-infused vanilla base mixed with crunchy corn bread brown sugar shortbread cookie crumbles and mixed in with sweet peach jam. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to try this flavor due to it not being gluten-free, but my scooper described the flavor of this ice cream as very savory. The sage cornbread adds a warm, herby cornbread flavored crunch that pairs nicely with the peach jam pockets.

Fourth is Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey. This ice cream has a turkey fat infused caramel ice cream base that is combined with candied turkey brittle. This flavor is gluten-free, but not vegan or vegetarian. I was a little skeptical to try this flavor at first, but it wasn’t too bad! The ice cream base is very creamy and buttery and has a slight gravy flavor due to the turkey fat. The turkey brittle adds a very nice crunch to compliment the buttery texture of the ice cream base. I definitely recommend trying this flavor, just to try something new!

Last, but not least, is Spiced Goat Cheese and Pumpkin Pie. This ice cream has a goat cheese infused ice cream base swirled with pumpkin pie custard. I was a little skeptical about a goat cheese flavored ice cream, because goat cheese has such a strong, distinct flavor. But everything came together really nicely. The goat cheese didn’t overpower the pumpkin custard and they compliment each other very well.

I thoroughly enjoyed all four flavors I tried, and really enjoyed feeling like I was eating a full Thanksgiving meal. I ended up leaving with a scoop of the cranberry sorbet and a pint of sweet potato casserole with maple pecans! Don’t forget to pop into Salt & Straw to try one (or all) of their limited time November Thanksgiving flavors!

Kaeala may be reached at
[email protected]