Salt & Straw Wants To Make 'Edible Perfume' Happen — Here's What To Know

All ice cream parlors share a similar smell, but the Portland-based chain Salt & Straw has managed to harness a particularly unique aroma that carries through each of its 27 shops. Is it the burnt sugar that clings to its homemade waffle cones? The Double Fold Vanilla that uses twice as many pods as standard vanilla from a small farm in Oregon? Whatever it is, it's working. The company has earned praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Harry Styles, and President Joe Biden, per The Hollywood Reporter, not to mention droves of non-famous customers who endure long lines to score scoops of the dessert — especially its more unexpected flavors, like Cinnamon & Honey Fried Chicken, which is proving to be a standout of the ice creamery's Summer Picnic Series. 

In anticipation of its release on National Ice Cream Day (July 17), Salt & Straw announced its most curious invention yet: ice cream-scented perfume that you can eat. This one might replace coconut toffee mealworms as the chain's most unique ice cream topping. 

Have you ever stopped to smell your ice cream? If you have, you may have noticed it doesn't have much of a nose. "The ingredients within ice cream might be fragrant but, at such low temperatures, the chemicals that would normally make our olfactory sensors sing are essentially frozen in ice," a Salt & Straw rep told Mashed in an email. "As the ice cream melts on our tongue, these flavors are released, creating the magical tastes Salt & Straw has become famous for." Who knew?

In an effort to "enhance" the ice cream experience, Salt & Straw has teamed up with the fragrance company Imaginary Authors to create a line of ice cream-scented perfume in three edible and wearable flavors: A Cloud of Cocoa (a rich and smoky scent with notes of Ecuadorian chocolate, malted milkshake, and Japanese whisky), A Plume of Blooms (a summery number giving key lime pie, lychee, and "Italian lemon grove"), and A Swoon of Citrus (a sweet whiff of jasmine, honeysuckle, and "wild country garden"). Each 65ml bottle, which go for $65 a pop, will launch online and as a topping in shops on July 17, just in time for National Ice Cream Day. If you're worried they'll sell out, you can join the waitlist to save yourself a spot.