There’s nothing quite like ice cream to inspire childlike delight in a fully-grown adult. Put cheese and ice cream together, and it’s salty-sweet magic—and, luckily, not tricky to find. 

One of the most crowd-pleasing cheese ice cream flavors is Goat Cheese with Red Cherries from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams of Ohio. Those of us who dig goat cheese already adore its citrus notes—throw it into vanilla ice cream with tangy red cherries, and it all transforms into frozen cherry cheesecake. 

Humboldt Fog Ice Cream. Photo Credit Salt & Straw.

Love a good triple cream? Head to a San Francisco outpost of Salt & Straw and grab a scoop of Mt Tam Cheese with Toasted Acme Bread. They toss in the cheese—rind and all—into the ice cream base to capture both the creamy lusciousness of the paste and the wild mushroomy notes of the rind. It’s blended with a bit of Acme Bread Fruit and Walnut Bread, which has been toasted and candied to stay crunchy. You’ll get little echoes of the earthy rind in some bites, which adds a delightful dimension, almost the same way dark chocolate adds earthiness to other ice creams. 

Blue cheese fans can jet over to La Gelateria in London to try the Cornish Blue and Walnuts, or to a Portland, Ore., outpost of Salt & Straw to try Pear & Blue Cheese. The salty, peppery minerality of the blue tempers the sweetness and bumps up the umami—something you never knew was missing from your ice cream.  

If the above spots are too much of a trek, ask your cheesemonger for their favorite recipe—even if they don’t have their own, they’ll know someone who does. It’s a small world when your job is selling joy in dairy form. 

Christine Clark

Christine Clark is a writer and educator who lives in Burlington, Vermont, and teaches in New York City. When she's not eating, she's thinking about what to eat next. Follow her adventures on Instagram: @yourcheesefriend.