Salt & Straw Is Pairing Ice Cream And Perfume In A Special Holiday Bundle

Smell and taste are senses, whereas flavor is a "sensation" experienced as a result of combined input from these two senses, according to Institute of Culinary Education. That's why devoting ample time to wine-sniffing is integral to any successful wine tasting event. It's also why craft ice cream makers Salt & Straw launched a line of "culinary perfumes" developed in collaboration with Imaginary Authors, per a press release sent to Tasting Table.

Just as heat can intensify the way something smells, cold can dampen it, according to Seeker, which explains the volatile compounds to which our noses respond become less active at cold temperatures. Ice cream, in particular, is too cold for those compounds to activate. The upshot is ice cream, when frozen — which is precisely as ice cream was intended to be enjoyed — has no scent, which Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw's Co-Founder and Head Ice Cream Innovator, explained in a July press release announcing the perfumes.

Available in three varieties, A Plume of Blooms, A Cloud of Cocoa, and A Swoon of Citrus, Salt & Straw's culinary perfumes were meant to be sprayed on ice cream like a topping to re-introduce the otherwise-missing element of scent. The goal? Amped up flavor. And apparently, it works because Salt & Straw, which asserts that 80% of flavor is smell, just announced a holiday culinary perfume promotion, this one involving ice creams as well. 

It used to be inevitable that some of ice cream's flavor would be "lost" because ice cream lacks a scent when frozen, according to craft ice cream purveyor Salt & Straw, which came up with a workaround in the form of its Culinary Perfumes, launched in July 2022, according to a company press release. Salt & Straw is now reissuing its ice cream-scented edible perfumes in a handy travel size — flight-style — along with Salt & Straw ice cream in what promises to be a special holiday bundle.

Specifically, Salt & Straw's Perfume Pairing Pack comprises the travel-sized flight of three fragrances plus five pints of Salt & Straw ice cream — in your choice of flavors. However, Salt & Straw has curated some recommended pairings: For the Cocoa scent, the company recommends the Marionberry Coconut Sherbet (which is vegan, by the way) and Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons ice cream. For the Citrus, the Arbequina Olive Oil ice cream flavor is considered the match made in heaven. Finally, both Chocolate Gooey Brownie and Honey Lavender ice cream flavors are well-suited for the Blooms edible perfume – which, in case you're wondering, is said to lend floral notes, including jasmine and honeysuckle. 

The cost for the Perfume Pairing Pack is $133 with shipping included. There's also an option to purchase the Culinary Perfume Flight of three edible fragrance (sans ice cream) for $48. As always, full-sized bottles of the perfumes cost $65.