Nettles in ice cream? Salt & Straw wants to take you on a camping adventure

You may not think of mushroom or baked beans in ice cream, but no ingredient is off limits to Tyler Malek.

Malek, co-founder of Portland-based, small-batch ice cream company Salt and Straw, is known for daring flavors like roasted bone marrow ice cream with smoked cherries.

Malek recently returned to his Seattle hometown to forage for wild nettles that will be part of Salt and Straw’s menu. For our series "Chef's Day Off," we tagged along.

Malek and his team hiked Tiger Mountain, taking in the sights and smells of the forest in early spring. They came for the nettles, but their guide, food writer and forager Langdon Cook, showed them other hidden edibles along the path.

Cook pulled up a piece of root, peeled it and offered it for the group to taste. “This is licorice fern,” he said. Malek took a bite, chewed it and looked at Cook. “That’s intense, huh?” said Cook.

Malek forages for ingredients that are specific to the region. He wants to tell Seattle’s story through the wild foods from its backyard.

“I think that’s the biggest thing," he said. "How do we really excite people about going outside and enjoying their environment and where they live in multiple different ways?"

Malek didn't originally set out to be an ice cream maker. He had planned a life of travel and working in business. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit, and Malek's stepdad died while Malek was living in China. Malek reevaluated his life and decided to enroll in culinary school.

“There’s an inherent superpower in food in the way you can appreciate and showcase different backgrounds or heritages, but also in the innate ability to bring people together," Malek said.

Right around that time in his life, Malek's cousin, Kim Malek, told him she wanted to open an ice cream shop. Tyler Malek had no experience making ice cream, but convinced her to collaborate with his non-traditional flavor combinations.

Sometimes those flavors are off the wall. Take, for example, Malek's "Creepy Crawly Critters," which features chocolate-covered crickets.

But one person’s ew factor could be another’s new favorite. Malek says that’s the beauty of ice cream: Unlike trying dishes at restaurants, ice cream allows people to sample different flavors until they find something that speaks to them.

Malek says he wants to be provoke conversations with flavors.

“There’s so much about it that’s approachable,” he said. “But at the same time it gives us opportunity to take someone way out of their comfort zone. It’s a cool dichotomy that we have and it allows us to be really creative with flavors.”

When Malek and his team arrived at a spot with thick patches of stinging nettles, they started working in pairs and snipped away. The nettles would be part of a rotating, seasonal menu, which Malek likens it to putting together a magazine.

“I like this idea of kind of like, having a few different plots in the menu,” he said.

Malek is creating what he calls the "Camping Series"for the month of June. He wants to evoke memories of hiking and camping around Washington during his youth. Yes, there will be "Campfire S'mores" made with smoked sugar and infused with pine needles. Also on the menu: "Mushroom Muddy Buddies" and "Baked Beans and Berries." Seattle shops will feature "Skillet Cornbread with Candied Nettles and Pine Nuts."

Malek hopes the flavors will inspire people to explore the outdoors.

“I love this, almost using our ice cream as a soapbox to be like, 'Hey, here’s what’s out in this world around us,'" Malek said. "Taking a moment to look around and appreciating it is really a magical thing.”

Prefer a tamer ice cream flavor? Here’s a recipe for a Salt and Straw classic:

HONEY LAVENDER

¼ cup wildflower honey

½ cup dried lavender (buds only)

3 cups ice cream base, very cold

10 drops natural purple food coloring, preferably India Tree brand (optional)

In a small saucepan combine ¾ cup water and the honey. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, then take it off the heat. Stir in the lavender, cover the saucepan, and let steep at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight. Pour the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer into a container, pressing on the flower buds to extract as much liquid as possible. Chill until cold and use it right away or refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Put the lavender syrup, ice cream base, and food coloring (if using) into a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker and turn on the machine. Churn just until the mixture has the texture of a soft-serve.

Transfer the ice cream, scraping every last delicious drop from the machine, into freezer-friendly containers. Cover with parchment paper, pressing it to the surface of the ice cream so it adheres, then cover with a lid. It’s okay if the parchment hangs over the rim. Store it in the coldest part of your freezer (farthest from the door) until firm, at least 6 hours. It will keep for up to 3 months.

ICE CREAM BASE

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ cup dry milk powder

½ teaspoon xantham gum

¼ cup light corn syrup 2 2/3 cups whole milk

2 2/3 cups heavy cream

Combine the sugar, dry milk, and xantham gum in a small bowl and stir well. Pour the corn syrup into a medium pot and stir in the whole milk. Add the sugar mixture and immediately whisk vigorously until smooth. Set the pot over medium heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent a simmer, until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.

Add the cream and whisk until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours, or for even better texture and flavor, 24 hours. Stir in the base back together if it separates during the resting time. The base can be further stored in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. (Just be sure to fully thaw the frozen base before using it.)

[Reprinted from Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook. Copyright © 2019 by Salt & Straw, LLC. Photographs copyright © 2018 by Andrew Lee Thomas. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.”]