Salt & Straw has opened its newest shop in Boston's Seaport, bringing a lineup of flavors that ranges from a hometown-inspired Boston cream pie to a matcha ice cream studded with actual chocolate-covered insects. The Portland, Oregon-born chain now counts 58 shops nationwide, each built around a rotating menu designed to surprise as much as satisfy.
According to WCVB, Salt & Straw began in 2011 as a single ice cream cart in Portland before growing into the chain now scooping cones in Boston. The company keeps 15 permanent flavors on its menu alongside five rotating selections each month, giving regulars a reason to keep coming back. Salt & Straw develops those flavors through collaborations with chefs, farmers, and artisans, a process the company says keeps its menu evolving well beyond classic vanilla and chocolate.
A Menu Built on Local Flavor and Bold Swings
The Seaport shop's lineup leans into New England pride with a Boston cream pie flavor and a pistachio cannoli packed with pieces of real pistachio, per the station's report. There's also a double-fold vanilla made with twice the amount of vanilla found in regular vanilla ice cream, and a strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper that uses an Italian technique of adding acidity to sweet fruit to intensify its sweetness.
But the flavor drawing the most double-takes is Creepy Crawler Critters, a sweet matcha ice cream featuring chocolate-covered insects and toffee brittle mealworms, the same report notes. Salt & Straw says on its product page that it partnered with Don Bugito, described as one of the nation's first edible bug farms, to create the flavor, stirring in coconut toffee candied mealworms and chocolate-covered crickets.
“They Are Actual Critters”
Salt & Straw General Manager Prisca Mbiye confirmed there's no trickery involved in the matcha scoop's crunch. “They are actual critters,” Mbiye said, according to WCVB. Mbiye also said the company continuously pushes the boundaries of flavor, and called the Boston shop “a taste adventure.”
The Seaport opening caps a long search for the right Boston address. The company's cofounders spent seven years looking for a space in the city before settling on a spot at Commonwealth Pier, according to The Boston Globe, which reported the 11,000-square-foot location was slated to run 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. The Globe also noted the Seaport shop marked the chain's first Boston location and its second in New England, following an earlier spot in Salem, New Hampshire.
From a Basement Experiment to a National Chain
Salt & Straw was founded by two cousins who had no previous ice cream-making experience, WCVB reports. One bought four used ice cream machines and experimented in a basement, while the other bought a cart to start selling what they made. The company's name nods to an old-fashioned method of using salt and ice to freeze ice cream, with straw used to help keep it cold.
That scrappy origin story hasn't stopped the brand from pulling in fans from well beyond Massachusetts. One customer told WCVB they had traveled all the way from Hawaii just to try Salt & Straw, and said they liked what they tasted. Earlier coverage from MassLive had reported plans for the Seaport shop to open at 200 Seaport Blvd. in July, introducing Boston Cream Pie and Pistachio and Ricotta Cannoli flavors along with a Cool Dog treat limited to opening weekend. Yahoo had similarly reported that the shop was set to debut two Boston-exclusive flavors when it opened at 200 Seaport Boulevard.
