What Exactly Does Salted Egg Yolk Ice Cream Taste Like?

In all their rich, fatty goodness, egg yolks are added to countless desserts for the flavor and texture they provide. Salted egg yolks are a wondrous extension of this, and their presence in ice cream evokes similar enthusiasm. You may be wondering, "Isn't it too savory?" Yet sweet and savory combinations in ice cream are not as rare as you might think. There are varieties like everything bagel ice cream, creamy mayonnaise, and the classic salted caramel. So, it's not as unconventional as you might initially assume.

The flavor of salted egg yolk ice cream is reminiscent of liu sha bao, a fluffy steamed bun filled with molten salted egg custard. These buns are rich and creamy, as well as sweet and salty. In ice cream form, the salted yolks are typically part of the ice cream's base — although sometimes they're used as a topping — and paired with a sweet flavor like custard, white chocolate, or even pineapple. This usually balances the salty, eggy elements of the yolk with the sweet notes of the cream. The result is buttery, sugary, and tangy — just about everything you could want in an ice cream.

Ice cream has an unexpectedly ancient history, but as Natasha Bedingfield famously noted, the rest is still unwritten. This is precisely the case for salted egg yolk ice cream, which is gaining popularity in ice cream shops and online recipe forums. Each establishment or recipe seems to incorporate the salted egg yolks in a slightly different manner.

Excitingly, A-Chino — a renowned Taiwanese ice cream brand — offers a salted egg yolk boba ice cream. The packaging cleverly mimics an egg yolk with various shades of mellow yellow and orange. Inside, the ice cream bar features swirls of whites and oranges, with small round boba chips temptingly studded throughout. The ice cream's salted eggy flavor is blended with creamy milk, which presents a playful unison between sweet and savory elements, while the boba pearls act like chewy explosions of caramelized sugar.

At Mamason's in London, egg yolks are cured in salt to remove moisture, resulting in a hard, pebble-like shape. This process also intensifies the flavor, yielding a rich and deeply umami yolk. The cured yolk is then grated into a bowl before being blended, pasteurized, and transformed into ice cream.

Just because various brands are making salted egg yolk ice cream doesn't mean it's universally loved. Social media reactions to the flavor are relatively split, with some users believing it tastes just a bit too eggy.

However, others are enthusiastic about the savory-sweet combination. In response to an Instagram reel of Mamason's egg yolk ice cream, posted by the account @chefstalk, one user described the taste as "like custard," while another commented that they "would definitely try it." Even the companies selling the ice cream have differing opinions; A-Chino posted on its Instagram that the taste of its salted egg yolk boba bars is "[k]ind of like mooncakes."

Savory-sweet ice cream may not be the dessert or snack you expected, but it's certainly the next one you should try. You can't truly judge salted egg yolk ice cream until you've tasted it.