It’s weird that some of the best flavor combinations are born from mixing totally random savory and sweet foods. While some blends can initially sound (or look) like something only your most adventurous friend would sample, you might end up loving them. Think about salted caramel, chocolate-covered bacon, and donut burgers. Why choose one flavor when you can get the best of both worlds? That’s what a New Jersey creamery and orchard was thinking when they launched their new pork roll ice cream. That's right: pork roll-infused ice cream by Windy Brow Farms exists, and it's definitely intriguing.
Breakfast and dessert seamlessly come together in one lick of Windy Brow Farms’ new Taylor ham and French toast ice cream. For those who aren’t up to speed on pork rolls, Taylor ham is one kind that packs on the flavor with a medley of salt and spices topped off with a sugar-based cure. According to Eater, pork rolls are particularly popular in New Jersey where they are both a breakfast staple and a dinner menu item. People love it so much that there’s even a Pork Roll Festival.
Anyway, the creators behind the new flavor decided to take the area’s obsession with pork roll to the next level. They concocted an ice cream that combines a local maple syrup base with fluffy morsels of house-made challah French toast and pieces of caramelized Taylor ham that’ve been tossed in cinnamon sugar.
So, how does one even think of that combination? Well, for managing partner Jake Hunt, the pairing is not as strange as one might think. In an interview with Elite Daily, Hunt says that he and the team set out to come up with flavors that would appeal to the general New Jerseyian, and they’re just getting started.
“We wanted to release a flavor collection to celebrate our fifth year of ice cream production and came up with the idea of an 'Only in Jersey' collection that will feature flavors that are distinctly New Jersey,” he tells Elite Daily. “Taylor ham just seemed like a logical (or illogical) place to start.”
Considering that bacon ice cream is surprisingly good, I can imagine that this ice cream would have a similar flavor. Plus, the challah French toast and pork roll sounds like a combination that would work well together like chicken and waffles. And doesn't ice cream make everything taste better? But if the Taylor ham and French toast ice cream still doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, Hunt said that Windy Brow Farms will be debuting four more flavors that fit the “Only in New Jersey” bill.
“Over the course of the next few months, we’ll release four more flavors ... culminating in a celebration at our summer fest the last weekend of July,” Hunt tells Elite Daily. If the new ice creams do well, they’ll keep them through the rest of the season.
While I have yet to try the new ice cream flavor, something tells me that it'll be around for a while. There have been positive reviews coming from a few New Jerseyians on Twitter who’ve tried it, and they're urging others not to knock it ‘till they taste it.
With that being said, I did notice a few Twitter users going head-to-head over the ice cream’s name. Some note that the meat is referred to as Taylor ham instead of pork roll, and there seems to be an ongoing debate about what it should be called. At the time of publication, more than 50 people have actually signed a Change.org petition to switch the name to pork roll. Things are getting heated.
For now, adventurous foodies will have to make the trek to the New Jersey farm to sample the Taylor ham and French toast ice cream, but that could all change pretty soon. With all the national attention the new flavor has been getting, Hunt says that the company is looking to ship out orders so more people can try the ice cream and judge for themselves.
