Ice cream is usually associated with sweetness, from classic vanilla and chocolate to adventurous fruit and dessert flavours. But a new food trend is challenging that familiar idea by asking a simple question: does ice cream really have to be sweet?

Imagine a cold scoop flavoured with mustard, tomato, mushroom, cheese, herbs or Indian spices. It may sound strange, but savoury ice cream has a surprisingly long history.

Savoury ice cream is not really new

Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook The Virginia House-Wife included a recipe for “Oyster Cream”, an unsweetened frozen preparation made with oysters.

Modern chefs have taken the idea in very different directions. Experiments have included mustard ice cream with French fries, butter chicken ice cream, khandvi ice cream and fermented mustard ice cream.

These creations show that freezing savoury ingredients is not simply a gimmick. It can offer an entirely different way of experiencing familiar flavours.

Umami could make the idea work

One flavour that could make savoury ice cream easier to understand is umami — the deep, savoury taste associated with ingredients such as mushrooms, seaweed, soy and aged cheese.

Possible combinations could include roasted mushroom with parmesan, tomato and basil, smoked cheese with black pepper, or fermented mustard.

India may have a particular advantage because savoury dairy is already familiar. Foods such as raita, chaas and kadhi show that dairy does not always need sugar to be enjoyable.

Could the scoop also be high in protein?

The bigger opportunity could be combining savoury flavours with the growing demand for protein-rich foods.

Researchers at ICAR-NDRI have worked on high-protein ice cream technology, exploring ways to increase protein while maintaining the texture consumers expect.

This raises the possibility of products such as herbed yoghurt-and-protein ice cream, smoked paneer or chilli-lime frozen snacks.

Making healthy ice cream is not simple

Removing sugar from ice cream creates technical challenges because sugar affects texture and freezing. Protein, salt, cheese and fermented ingredients can also change the final product.

A savoury flavour does not automatically make a product healthy either. Sodium, fat and naturally occurring lactose would still need to be considered.

Will people actually buy it?

That may be the biggest challenge.

Curiosity could persuade someone to try fermented mustard or tomato-basil ice cream once, but taste would determine whether they buy it again.

For now, savoury ice cream remains an intriguing possibility rather than a mainstream product. But with the rise of high-protein foods and growing interest in unusual flavours, the humble ice-cream scoop may have more possibilities than we thought.