{"response":{"status":"ok","userTier":"developer","total":1,"content":{"id":"food/2026/jul/28/taste-test-99-unusual-ice-cream-flavours","type":"article","sectionId":"food","sectionName":"Food","webPublicationDate":"2026-07-28T04:00:29Z","webTitle":"Scoop of the year! We taste-test 99 of 2026’s most unusual ice creams, from the unbeatable to the unlickable","webUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jul/28/taste-test-99-unusual-ice-cream-flavours","apiUrl":"https://content.guardianapis.com/food/2026/jul/28/taste-test-99-unusual-ice-cream-flavours","fields":{"headline":"Scoop of the year! We taste-test 99 of 2026’s most unusual ice creams, from the unbeatable to the unlickable","firstPublicationDate":"2026-07-28T04:00:29Z","lastModified":"2026-07-28T13:04:15Z","bodyText":"What’s with all the weird ice-cream flavours this year? It feels as if supermarkets and independent companies are vying to make the most novel alternatives to a good old scoop of vanilla. But which are actually worth having? I tried 99 varieties of ice-cream tubs and ranked them from sickeningly sweet to dinner party-worthy. 99. Paxo sage and onion stuffing, Anya Hindmarch (One scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) Anya Hindmarch’s Ice Cream Project has become a yearly summer fixture, in which the fashion designer collaborates with well-known brands to create nostalgic novelty flavours (at designer prices) for which customers queue round the block. This year the flavours skew toward roast dinners, and include Oxo (which I couldn’t try, being vegetarian) and Paxo. It tastes exactly like the stuffing … which isn’t really what I want from an ice-cream. Taste 1/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 98. High protein chocolate brownie, Oppo (240ml, £3.50, Ocado) A disgraceful, claggy, protein bar-flavoured excuse for an ice-cream. Taste 1/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 97. Crunchie, Cadbury (425ml, £4.02, Asda) Sickly sweet; very, very orange in colour, with a weird, foamy, almost mousse-like texture. Taste 3/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 96. Hobnobs, McVitie’s (500ml, £4, Iceland) Grainy and overly sweet. Hobnob fans should stay away and avoid disappointment. Taste 3/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 95. Caramelised biscuit swirl, Oppo (475ml, £5.40, Ocado) This sickly-sweet ice-cream demonstrates exactly why “low-calorie” ice-cream shouldn’t be a thing. Taste 3/10, Value 5/10, Originality 3/10 94. Jacob’s Mini Cheddars, Anya Hindmarch (One scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) Cheese ice-cream apparently has a long history in the UK, but this version doesn’t do that history any justice. Slightly coarse texture and familiar Mini Cheddars flavour. Taste 3/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 93. Amarena cherry cheesecake, Hackney Gelato (460ml, £5.75, Waitrose) I wanted more cheesiness from this one, too, and a less synthetic cherry flavour. Taste 3/10, Value 5/10, Originality 3/10 92. Cherry and mascarpone gelato, Crosta & Mollica (450ml, £4.60, Waitrose) Soft-serve style, prettily swirled in its recyclable box, underdelivers on flavour. Taste 4/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 91. Cornish sea salted caramel brittle, No 1 Waitrose (480ml, £4.50, Waitrose) Unlike most salted caramel treats, this was actually well salted, and the brittle was nice and crunchy – even if salted caramel ice-cream feels a bit old hat these days. Taste 4/10, Value 6/10, Originality 1/10 90. Strawberry cheesecake, Häagen-Dazs (460ml, £5.75, Tesco) Overly sweet and artificial-tasting. Taste 4/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 89. Milk chocolate digestives, McVitie’s (500ml, £4, Iceland) If you’re going to put biscuit pieces in an ice-cream, you need to find a way to stop them going soft. Nobody wants soggy biscuits! Taste 4/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 88. Peanut butter and milk chocolate, Reese’s (460ml, £5.50, Iceland) I love Reese’s peanut butter cups, so I had high hopes. But though it had a satisfying crackly chocolate swirl, it was slightly cloying and gritty overall. Taste 5/10, Value 4/10, Originality 2/10 87. Protein speculoos, Jude’s (460ml, £5, Ocado) This vegan, high-protein ice-cream is another soggy biscuit offender, and leaves an almost yeasty aftertaste. Avoid. Taste 2/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 86. Colombian coffee, M&S collection (500ml, £4.50, Ocado) The crushed-up coffee beans create a sandy texture which I didn’t love. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 1/10 85. Green Giant sweetcorn, Anya Hindmarch (One scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) It’s a bold move to put chunks of sweetcorn in an ice-cream, and I’m not sure it pays off. Taste 4/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 84. Walker’s shortbread, Anya Hindmarch (One scoop £4.50, 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) The texture was a bit too hard. The sweet-salty flavour was perfectly nice, though. Taste 4/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 83. Oreo (425ml, £3.50, Iceland) Spongey texture; slightly nothing-y flavour. Taste 4/10, Value 6/10, Originality 2/10 82. Tunnock’s caramel wafers, Anya Hindmarch (One scoop £4.50, 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) Way too sweet! Taste 4/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 81. Macadamia nut brittle, Häagen-Dazs (460ml, £5.75, Ocado) Another one that is far too sickly sweet. There was a slight saltiness for balance, but not enough. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 80. Nutella (470ml, £5.50, Iceland) It’s fun that this one looks exactly like a jar of Nutella, and you have to break through a layer of Nutella spread to get to the ice-cream. Fans of the spread will love it; it was a bit too intense for me. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 79. Soy Joy cookie dough, M&S (320ml, £4, Ocado) This soy ice-cream did not, sadly, bring me joy. It’s cloying and artificial-tasting – there are far better vegan ice-creams out there. Taste 3/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 77-73. Capri-Sun orange / Müller Corner strawberry / McVitie’s ginger nuts / Yazoo chocolate milk / Illy coffee, Anya Hindmarch (one scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) These all tasted exactly like the products they’re based on. Taste 5/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 72. Piña colada, Soleya (500ml, £9.50, selected UK stores) There is no alcohol in this rather insipid vegan ice-cream, which is more of a sorbet. Taste 3/10, Value 4/10, Originality 6/10 71-70. Chocolate salted caramel / Caramel pecan praline, Booja Booja (465ml, £5.65, Booja Booja) Both of these vegan chocolate ice-creams have an intense chocolatey flavour. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 3/10 69. Biscoff, Lotus (425ml, £2.50, Iceland) Anyone who has enjoyed spooning Biscoff spread directly into their mouth will be in heaven. Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 68. Blueberry and lemon curd, Yeo Valley (480ml, £4.75, Ocado) Very strong lemon curd flavour, with chunks of fresh blueberry. This isn’t a flavour combination I love, but I can appreciate that it’s a very good ice-cream. Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 67. Kikkoman soy sauce, Anya Hindmarch (one scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) I loved the salty first spoonful of this – but any more than that becomes overwhelming. Taste 5/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 66. Rhubarb and custard, Waitrose (480ml, £3.50, Waitrose) Pure nostalgia! Taste 3/10, Value 7/10, Originality 4/10 65. Lurpak salted butter, Anya Hindmarch (one scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) Lovely and creamy, but could have been saltier. Taste 6/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 64. Vanilla and black cardamom, Moonji (100ml, £3.49, selected UK stores and online) I wanted more cardamom from this plant-based ice-cream. Taste 5/10, Value 3/10, Originality 6/10 63. Millionaires shortbread with cornish clotted cream, Kelly’s (425ml, £4, Iceland) Crunchy chunks of chocolate and biscuit, a very rich caramel sauce – delicious. Taste 7/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 62. Honeycomb and chocolate, Jude’s (460ml, £5.75, Ocado) This is a much nicer version of the flavours in the Crunchie ice-cream. Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 3/10 61. Roasted strawberries, Brickell’s (475ml, £7.50, selected UK stores and online) Delicious real strawberry flavour – but the grainiest tub I tried. Taste 5/10, Value 4/10, Originality 5/10 60. Trifle Twirl, M&S (500ml, £4.50, Ocado) A fun, Ben & Jerry’s-style loaded ice-cream (I haven’t included any Ben & Jerry’s tubs in this list because their flavours are all now mainstream). The sponge chunks are a bit too chewy. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 59. Heather honey, M&S (500ml, £5, Ocado) A really yummy, subtle, honey-flavoured ice-cream. Taste 7/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 58. Aunt Bessie’s yorkshire pudding, Anya Hindmarch (one scoop £4.50 or 500ml tub £16, The Ice Cream Project, London) This tastes more like pancakes with syrup than yorkshire puddings – but not in a bad way. Taste 7/10, Value 1/10, Originality 7/10 57. Lemon curd, Norfolk County Dairy (500ml, £8.15, selected UK stores) A very subtle lemon flavour; I wasn’t getting curd specifically. Taste 5/10, Value 4/10, Originality 6/10 56. Rockiest road, Jefferson’s (370ml, £8.50, selected UK stores) Ben & Jerry’s phish food on steroids. Taste 7/10, Value 3/10, Originality 5/10 55. Baileys vanilla, Carte D’Or (825ml, £4.50, Ocado) Baileys lovers will enjoy – does exactly what it says on the tub. Taste 4/10, Value 8/10, Originality 3/10 54. Cornish honeycomb crunch, Kelly’s (950ml, £4, Iceland) There were nice crunchy bits of honeycomb on top, but it needed more throughout. Taste 5/10, Value 9/10, Originality 1/10 53. Raspberry cheesecake with Cornish clotted cream, Kelly’s (425ml, £4, Iceland) Way more delicious than I was expecting – the raspberry sauce is genuinely great. Taste 8/10, Value 5/10, Originality 2/10 52. Golden syrup, Lyle’s (500ml, £4.75, Iceland) Incredibly sweet – but how could it not be? Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 51. Mango sticky rice, Araw (475ml, £8, available for UK delivery) I wanted to love this vegan ice-cream, but the rice was still hard and the whole thing a bit underwhelming. Taste 3/10, Value 3/10, Originality 9/10 50. Sicilian lemon and limoncello, Tesco (480ml, £3.50, Tesco) Inoffensive, but not tart enough. Taste 4/10, Value 5/10, Originality 6/10 49-45. Ottolenghi strawberries and cream with sumac / roasted pistachio and sour cherry / salted malted chocolate / coffee and cardamom / Madagascan vanilla and miso caramel, Waitrose (480ml tub, £6, Waitrose) I wanted more from all of these! More sumac, more sourness, more malt flavour … Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 6/10 44. Dubai chocolate, Mister Twist (120ml, £5.50, selected UK stores) A fun, crunchy take on a trendy flavour. Taste 7/10, Value 2/10, Originality 7/10 43-40. Stem ginger and marmalade / Mini egg / Gingerbread / Cinnamon, Simply Ice Cream (500ml, £6.50, available for UK delivery) All of these flavours from independent ice-cream maker Simply Ice Cream were lovely – but none of them blew my socks off. Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 5/10 39. Matcha, Häagen-Dazs (460ml, £6, Waitrose) It’s easy to write off matcha as a zeitgeisty flavour, but in an ice-cream it’s undeniably refreshing. Taste 6/10, Value 5/10, Originality 6/10 38. Irish coffee, Simply Ice Cream (500ml, £6.50, available for UK delivery) I don’t love Irish coffees – but I was impressed by how much this tasted like one. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 7/10 37. Cinnamon bun, Waitrose (480ml, £3.50, Waitrose) Way too few chunks of bun – this felt like a missed opportunity! Artificial-tasting. Taste 4/10, Value 7/10, Originality 6/10 36. Peach melba, Waitrose (480ml, £3.50, Waitrose) This nails the flavour of tinned peaches with sugary raspberry sauce. Taste 5/10, Value 7/10, Originality 5/10 35-33. Basque cheesecake/ Earl grey malted crumble/ Ube halaya, Araw (475ml, £8, available for UK delivery) These felt like underwhelming representations of the unusual flavours they promised. Taste 5/10, Value 3/10, Originality 9/10 32. Caramelised biscuit, Asda (425ml, £2.75, Asda) Layered with biscuit sauce, this might be even tastier than the official Lotus one. Taste 6/10, Value 7/10, Originality 4/10 31. Flat white, M&S (500ml, £4.50, Ocado) More like an instant coffee than an espresso-based drink. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 7/10 30. Raspberry pavlova, Asda (900ml, £2.67 Asda) If you’re going to sell something as pavlova-flavoured, I think there should be more meringue chunks, but it’s cheap and relatively tasty. Taste 3/10, Value 9/10, Originality 5/10 29. Tiramisu, Häagen-Dazs (420ml, £5.75, Tesco) It is my firm belief that no tiramisu-flavoured thing (and there are an increasing number of them) will ever be as good as actual tiramisu. This didn’t prove me wrong. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 7/10 28. Sicilian lemon meringue, Asda (500ml, £3.27, Asda) There were chunks of meringue throughout, and a lemon curd ripple – not bad. Taste 5/10, Value 6/10, Originality 6/10 27. Mango lassi, Moonji (100ml, £3.49, selected UK stores and online) I was impressed that this vegan sorbet actually tasted like lassi, rather than just mango. Taste 7/10, Value 3/10, Originality 8/10 26. Stem ginger, Salcombe Dairy (500ml, £6, Ocado) A creamy, gingery delight. Taste 9/10, Value 5/10, Originality 4/10 25. Matcha green tea, Jude’s (460ml, £5.75, Sainsbury’s) Slightly milder, and better, in my opinion, than Häagen-Dazs’s version. Taste 7/10, Value 5/10, Originality 6/10 24. Fig leaf and currant jam, Milktooth Gelato (500ml, £9.50, selected UK stores) Earthy, interesting flavour – but some of the bits of currant were hard and gritty. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 8/10 23. Coconut kefir frozen yogurt, Waitrose (480ml, £3.50, Waitrose) There’s a lot going on here! Fresh, acidic, a bit sun-creamy – it wasn’t as luxurious as I wanted it to be. Taste 5/10, Value 7/10, Originality 6/10 22. Tofu apricot ponzu, Clingy Wrap (350ml, £8, selected UK stores) This vegan ice-cream had a slightly strange texture but a lovely apricot flavour. Taste 4/10, Value 4/10, Originality 10/10 21. Toscano olive oil, M&S (500ml, £4.50, Ocado) I loved the idea of this, but the flavour reminded me too much of margarine. Taste 5/10, Value 5/10, Originality 8/10 20. Lemon meringue gelato, Aldi (480ml, £2.49, Aldi) Layered, lemony soft serve. Taste 6/10, Value 6/10, Originality 6/10 19. Marmite on toast, Big Kid (300ml, £8, selected UK stores and online) Bizarre, but somehow actually not terrible. Taste 5/10, Value 4/10, Originality 10/10 18. Blueberry lavender jam, meringue swirl, Bears (450ml, £11.50, selected UK stores) I don’t love lavender so this wasn’t for me – but I could appreciate its creamy delicateness. Taste 6/10, Value 4/10, Originality 9/10 17. Strawberry kefir frozen yoghurt, M&S (500ml, £3.75, Ocado) Refreshingly tangy! Taste 6/10, Value 6/10, Originality 7/10 16. Tiramisu gelato, Aldi (480ml, £2.49, Aldi) This layered soft-serve is closer to a real tiramisu (I’d still rather have the dessert). 6/10, Value 6/10, Originality 7/10 15-12. Chinese jasmine tea / Hongkongues milk tea / Shizuoka matcha / Black sesame, La Barceloneta (162ml, £4.50, selected UK stores) These east Asian-inspired tubs are absolutely stunning. Well-balanced, exciting and delicious. Taste 9/10, Value 3/10, Originality 8/10 11. Iced coffee, Sainsbury’s (480ml, £3.50, Sainsbury’s) This actually tastes like drinking an iced latte – and it’s great value for money. Taste 7/10, Value 6/10, Originality 7/10 10. Not fried chicken, Life Raft (71g, £4, Iceland) OK, I know this doesn’t exactly count as an ice-cream tub, but I couldn’t ignore this ice-cream shaped to look like a chicken drumstick – complete with a chocolate pretzel “bone” inside. And it’s not all about looks – the waffle-flavoured ice-cream and crushed cornflakes coating make for a genuinely delicious treat. Taste 9/10, Value 1/10, Originality 10/10 9. Flat white coffee, Jude’s (460ml, £5.75, Ocado) Properly strong espresso flavour! Taste 8/10, Value 5/10, Originality 7/10 8. Chocolate Guinness cake, Jude’s (460ml, £5.85, Waitrose) Delicious, rich – just on the edge of being overwhelming. Taste 7/10, Value 5/10, Originality 8/10 7-5. Toasted rice / Pineapple jam mezcal / Peach mascarpone, Clingy Wrap (350ml, £8, selected UK stores) I loved this small independent company’s fun, exciting ice-creams: the toasted rice one has an almost cereal milk flavour, the mezcal one is surprising but not overpowering, and the flavours of real fruit shine through. Taste 7/10, Value 4/10, Originality 9/10 4. Kalamansi gochujang sorbet, Araw (475ml, £8, available for UK delivery) Zingy and fresh! Taste 7/10, Value 3/10, Originality 10/10 3. Brown bread, Simply Ice Cream (500ml, £6.50, available for UK delivery) For me, this was a great balance of unusual flavour and well-balanced, creamy ice-cream. Taste 8/10, Value 5/10, Originality 8/10 2. Miso banana butterscotch / Cinnamon sponge, Bramley apple jazz, cream cheese frosting, Bears (450ml, £11.50, selected UK stores) I’ve only just discovered the Kent-based Bears ice-cream and I’m going to be putting everyone I know on to it – both of these flavours were fruity, creamy and delicious. The banana one reminded me of my grandma’s banana bread recipe. Taste 9/10, Value 4/10, Originality 9/10 1. Brown butter popcorn, Bears (450ml, £11.50, selected UK stores) Right on the edge of being too salty, this ice-cream is a perfect balance of savoury, sweet, rich and creamy. I’ll be traversing corner shops and delis to track it down again. 10/10, Value 4/10, Originality 9/10"},"isHosted":false,"pillarId":"pillar/lifestyle","pillarName":"Lifestyle"}}}