Getting the Scoop on Cheese Ice Cream from Tyler Malek of Salt & Straw

Editor’s note: As the weather starts to warm up, our thoughts turn to ice cream and in particular, cheese ice cream. We last learned about cheese ice cream in the Philippines, this time we turn our attention to American ice cream maker, Salt & Straw. 

In 2011, Tyler Malek and his cousin, Kim Malek, founded Salt & Straw, a Portland, Oregon scoop shop that has since opened locations in California, Miami and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest along with a successful mail-order operation. Each month, in addition to the always available Classics, Salt & Straw showcases a handful of featured flavors; more than 20 of which have showcased adventurous uses of cheese, including Cheddar Apple Pie, Black Olive Brittle & Goat Cheese, and Walnut Butter with Parmesan.

“Cheese ice creams are unique, yet approachable,” says Tyler Malek, the Chief Creative Officer and flavormeister at Salt & Straw. “It’s easy to get people to try them once you remind them that cream cheese is used in lots of other desserts.” 

The Cheese Professor connected with Tyler Malek to learn more:

Pear and Blue Cheese photo credit Salt & Straw

When did you start to develop ice cream flavors with cheese?

The first was our Pear & Blue Cheese in 2011, using local Bartlett pears and Rogue Creamery’s Crater Lake Blue cheese. 

We wanted to bring attention to Rogue which is here in Oregon and has really helped bring national recognition to the state’s cheesemakers. We were thrilled to use ice cream as a stage to help tell their story in Portland. Read more about Rogue Creamery. 

Strawberry Lime Cheesecake photo credit Salt & Straw

Why did you continue to work with cheese?

Developing that first flavor helped us recognize that the way cheese interacts with cream and sugar is really delicious. It’s like they were made to go together. Cheesecake is a common dessert and it’s really made up of the same ingredients that are in the foundation in our ice creams. 

What are the technical challenges of incorporating cheese into ice cream?

At the beginning, we typically stuck with fresh cheese, like chevre, cream cheese and sheep’s cheese. They’re so tender that they incorporate into ice cream really nicely. 

But when we wanted to work with harder cheeses, we had to get creative. Depending on the type of cheese, we use different techniques to incorporate it into the ice cream. We’ve built up quite the toolkit to integrate cheese flavors.

Can you share some examples?

In 2012,  we wanted to work another Rogue cheese; their smoky Touvelle, but we quickly realized it couldn’t melt into the cream and sugar of the ice cream base. So we shaved it really thin with a microplane and folded it into a frosting that we swirled throughout the ice cream to carry the cheese flavor.  

For one of our most beloved flavors, we take Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar from Seattle and bake it into a pie crust. Then we fold flaky bits of that crust into the ice cream. For another fan favorite, we use ricotta to make a frosting, slather that over walnut lace cookies, then break up the cookies and mix them into the ice cream. 

We’ve also learned tricks for melting cheese for when we do want its flavor integrated in the base. One is to add sodium citrate to the melting cheese; it allows harder cheeses to incorporate into the ice cream base without any graininess. Learn how sodium citrate is also the secret to silky cheese sauces.

Beecher's Marco Polo photo credit Beecher's

When you’ve approached cheese producers have any of them balked at the prospect of a cheese flavored ice cream?  

Surprisingly not. Sometimes they get a little leery when they hear our ideas, but when it all comes to life, they get super excited.

One example that required real trust in our processes was when we wanted to work with Beecher’s Marco Polo cheese, which is studded with green peppercorns. Kurt Dammeier, the head of Beecher’s, was really nervous at first, then we started making ice cream and he was amazed. It’s so fun to go through that journey with our partners. 

Do cheese makers ever approach you about collaborating on a flavor, or do you always take the lead?

We’ve definitely been approached and we love when small cheesemakers bring their unique offerings and stories to us. One of our first cheese partnerships was with Portland Creamery. They have a Sweet FireChevre where they infuse marionberry sauce with habaneros and when I first tried it, it immediately became one of my favorite flavor profiles. To this day, I still buy that cheese from my local New Season’s market. 

The ice cream flavor it inspired, Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero, has become one of our most beloved flavors. We serve it in July, when we do a berries menu and it’s featured on the cover of our cookbook.

For a cheese lover who wants to make a cheese-flavored ice cream using typical home equipment, do you have any tricks or tips to share?

First of all, you have to start with a great ice cream base. For all the recipes in our book, we begin with a clean and easy base. It’s a blank canvas for creating all sorts of fun flavors. 

I would recommend starting with a fresh or soft cheese like chevre. We add a little lemon juice and salt to help the chevre pop. 

Add those to your base and blend with an immersion blender; that’s really all there is to it. From there, you can begin to incorporate other flavors and textures. All sorts of fruit and candied nuts play off cheese really well.

Cheesecake is also a great foundation for inspiration. If you love a chocolate cheesecake, don’t be afraid to create a chocolate fudge swirl. 

Are there particular types of cheese that won’t work well for ice cream?

Not necessarily. You have to be nimble with your technique. It’s really about finding the right techniques that work with the right cheeses. 

One challenge we’ve run into is any cheese with a rind, like a Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery or the Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Creamery, have a tendency to bloom a little too much when they freeze. We found that if you cut off half the rind and incorporate the other half, it gives you the perfect degree of cheese flavor without overwhelming the ice cream.

Have you experimented with cheese flavored ice creams that lead with savory rather than sweet?

Yes, almost every year we do a special event where savory ice cream is an element of every dish. So cheese is always fun for that. We’ve made a blue cheese ice cream that was served as a topping for steak frites. It melted onto the steak and was used to dip the fries in. 

Can you please make a grilled cheese with fig jam flavor that includes chunks of crisp buttery grilled bread?

You read my mind; we are on the same page. One flavor I was working on right before COVID was an apple butter ribbon with hunks of grilled cheese ganache in a sweet base.  Unfortunately, it was halted during the pandemic. To this day, I dream about that recipe and hope to perfect it for a future menu.