When the temperature drops below 65 degrees, I usually lay off ice cream for a few weeks. Yet, this winter, not even pouring rain could keep me from trying Wanderlust Creamery.
Located in Torrance, this creamery incorporates unique flavors in their ice cream, taking inspiration from around the world. They have five flavors that change monthly and February’s flavors are inspired by Black History Month, Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day.
The first flavor I tried was influenced by a traditional pastry in celebration of Valentine’s Day. The Parisian dessert is called Ispahan, which is a soft macaron with lychee, raspberry and rose. Wanderlust Creamery’s take on this dessert consisted of lychee ice cream and raspberry-rose chocolate.
When I first took a bite of the Ispahan ice cream, the lychee flavor immediately caught my attention. The fruitiness was rich and seemed very authentic. The creaminess of the ice cream balanced well with the raspberry-rose valrhona, which is a french chocolate, and added a tangy crunch. I don’t often eat things that are rose-flavored, but the floral touch was very natural and mixed well with the lychee. It captured the romantic side of Paris and Valentine’s Day, but I also wish the overall flavor were less sweet.
The next ice cream was a playful take on a Lunar New Year dessert, Tangyuan. Tangyuan is a chewy ball of glutinous rice, typically filled with something sweet such as red bean, black sesame or peanuts. In collaboration with an Asian-American founded lactose company called Milky, Wanderlust Creamery mixed taro-sticky rice ice cream, chewy mochi pieces and black sesame butter.
The purple color of the ice cream caught my eye, but the ice cream’s ability to burn my nose with its potency surprised me even more. The flavor of the taro was much stronger than the mild, nutty and sweet taste that I was used to. Black sesame is known to be bold and slightly bitter, and this taste blends seamlessly with the taro. The small pieces of mochi throughout the ice cream didn’t add much flavor, but the change in texture was enjoyable. If you love taro and black sesame, you will feel the same enjoyment from this ice cream flavor. This ice cream was undeniably delicious, but its ability to make my eyes water proved it to be too strong for my taste.
Next, I tried the Honey Osmanthus Milk Tea flavor, representing East Asia, and another part of celebrating the Lunar New Year. The ice cream was infused with honeyed black tea, boba pearls, and golden osmanthus flowers native to Asia. Honey Osmanthus Milk Tea is popular in the new year because it symbolizes sweetness, prosperity, and success.
Osmanthus flowers are known to mix sweetness with citrus, which I did not find in this ice cream. The ice cream played more into the honey flavors, making it thicker, and reminding me of a brown-sugar boba tea. The boba added more chewiness to the ice cream, but did not add much to the overall taste. This ice cream was sweet, but it did not show me the same cultural ideas as the other flavors.
The last flavor I tried was the creamery’s “Hummingbird Cake”, created as an ode to Black History Month. Taking inspiration from the popular Southern cake, this flavor had hints of banana, pineapple, pecan, and buttercream frosting.
It was the most subtle of the flavors I tried, and it was my favorite. The small chunks of cake mixed in were a perfect addition of texture without overpowering the ice cream itself. It was perfectly sweet, and while I couldn’t taste much fruitiness, the cream cheese frosting brought a slight tanginess that tastefully mixed with the sweetness.
Wanderlust Creamery impressed me with its incorporation of international flavors. With every scoop I tried, I learned more about another culture and their traditions, and the taste of the ice cream was delicious. I was moved by the cultures that are celebrated this February, and I can’t wait to return in March to see where I will be transported to next.
