Salt & Straw Thinks Its New Perfume Smells So Good You'll Actually Eat It

Whether or not you're familiar with the term "forbidden snacks" — whose bona fides Reddit can attest to — you certainly know what they are. Maybe you have one or two that you secretly long for. Forbidden snacks are those seemingly-delectable, absolutely-inedible items that many want to eat, but know they can't because of the horrible consequences. Buzzfeed has a list that includes some delicious-looking dials and a meaty-looking mop, and the All Fantasy Everything podcast even drafted forbidden snacks on a 2020 episode pointing out how good Tide Pods and hot lava look. There are even smells that seem rather tempting despite lying well outside the food world, such as gasoline, as pointed out by Discover Magazine.

But what would we call something that is seemingly a forbidden snack, but isn't? Portland-based, obsession-inspiring ice cream maker Salt & Straw has just introduced such an item, designed with both flavor and fragrance in mind.

On July 17th — National Ice Cream Day, of course — Salt & Straw is rolling out a product that is wholly original in the world of food and perfume, according to Fast Company. At stores nationwide, customers will be able to spritz their scoops with culinary fragrances designed to enhance the dining experience. As ice cream is too cold to release the compounds that give rise to scents, these perfumes, which come in "A Cloud of Cocoa," "A Swoon of Citrus," and "A Plume of Blooms," allow the olfactory sense to more fully participate in addition to adding their own distinct notes to the ice cream underneath.

This isn't Salt & Straw's first inventive step in ice cream. The company has created unique flavors inspired by picnics, cereal, and flowers in the past. For these new culinary fragrances, the ice cream brand collaborated with Portland perfumery Imaginary Authors. Before their current cocreations, Salt & Straw and Imaginary Authors worked together on a non-edible ode to ice cream in the form of a waffle cone-inspired traditional fragrance (via Food & Wine.) The culinary fragrances can be worn just as well as eaten.

Those intrigued can join the waitlist for online orders which launch the same day the fragrances appear in Salt & Straw shops. Full 65ml bottles will set you back $65, a sampler of three 10ml bottles goes for $48, and a spritz on an in-store ice cream creation retails for $0.50.