Sweets and I made our way to the hopping Mississippi Street Fair Saturday with friends in the humid Portland weather.
Our entry point into the festivities couldn’t have been better as we found ourselves face to face with the booth for The Meadow. Renown for their offering of over 50 varieties of finishing salts, they had an ingenious offering to bring their high end finishing salts to the masses: salted ice cream.
We had a choice of four salts, each with varying qualities of crunch, size and accent flavor. I chose the Welsh Halen Mon Gold, which was accompanied with a story of being smoked with a downed oak that fell on the salt producer’s property.
The resulting Halen Mon Gold salted vanilla ice cream with cocoa nibs was an amazing revelation in the power of salt. The golden flakes immediately tricked my taste buds… This salt is like an invisible smoked caramel, wrapped in a sultry slow tango around my ice cream. It’s flashy dance moves occasionally jolted my senses back to the reality of crunchy salt, but the heightened sense of sweetness was a wondrous trick. Superlative!
I’ve always been a fan of combining salt and sweet, and yet this pairing has me on an even more targeted search to further flesh out my salted dessert experience.
The array of salts the Meadow offered for ice cream pairing: Iburi-Jio Cherry, Halen Môn Gold Finishing Salt (oak smoked), Pangasinan Star, and Taha’a Vanilla Flake Finishing Salt.
Now I know, more than ever, to enter the Meadow with a cautious grasp on my wallet. And I haven’t even mentioned their chocolate selection! This could be very dangerous…
9 Comments
Those look flippin’ fantastic! Thanks for the link!
Thanks for sharing! I love reading about unique foods you don’t see everyday! Do they sell their ice cream, or was it just at this fair you went to? I don’t see it on their Web site.
The ice cream was simply a vanilla one. I don’t believe they sell it. The salt was added individually to the serving.
–McAuliflower
We had the Pangasinan Star finishing salt and it was really interesting. Very subtle and kind of a fruity champagne flavor that really brought out the floral qualities of the vanilla ice cream.
I grew up in a household that didn’t really use salt. I was taught that salt was for boiling water and seasoning beans and that’s it.
The experience with the ice cream shows tells me that I need to expand my horizons a bit.
Mmm nice flavor description there.
I think I’m going to break down and go visit the Meadow tomorrow. And then get ice cream(s).Salt party?
–McAuliflower
Crushed pretzels on vanilla ice cream isn’t half bad either!
You outdid yourself on the description of flavor this time! So fun to read. This treat would have to be a step up from the Ruffles potato chips dipped in softened butter pecan ice cream I loved as a kid…the salty crisp combined with the creamy sweet…so good!
Seriously… you’re trying to kill me right? I’m on this stupid “no salt diet” imposed by my doctor and I’m really fighting the urge to stuff my face with every salty food that comes my way. (At this point, I’d be willing to punch a toddler for a pickle.) This… this makes me want to cry. Salty. Sweet. Ice cream. Everything I love. *sigh*
Ouch- no salt vs low salt? Gee that seems hard long term.
I’d “punch a toddler for a pickle” – love it! That has got to be a bumper sticker or something!–McAuliflower
Very ouch indeed. And it’s a no salt diet or as close to as I can get. Damned kidneys. It is hard, really hard, especially when you start taking note of how much salt is in EVERYTHING.
I’ll get to work on the bumper sticker for you. I’ll be sure to add it to my cafepress stuff. 
Hi there! Love reading your blog. For an inspiration, I wanted to let you know about one of my favorite desserts ever, from t’afia, here in Houston. (www.tafia.com). Caramel semi-freddo with candied lemon and balsamic syrup. Your article reminded me of it because of the juxtaposition between sweet and tangy/salty/tart.
Oh WOW! I bet the cocoa nibs were fantastic too. Vanilla, cocoa, and salt – what a great trio!
