Ice Cream Experiments in Valencia

Bored of the usual strawberry, chocolate and vanilla? Then head to Plaza de la Reina in Valencia, where you can try some far more outlandish flavours, including garlic gazpacho or tortilla chips!

The Llinares brothers, owners of the heladería, which has been popular in the city since it's beginnings in 1930, claim to be able to make virtually any flavour of ice-cream. In fact, their repertoire includes some 1500 different recipes, though only 60 are on sale at any one time.

The experimental heladeros (ice-cream sellers) have found some of their most successful recipes to be based on alcoholic drinks, such as mojito and Baileys, or fruits, including pear and pumpkin, while they also offer savoury options such as omelette which, although not so great for eating in a cone on a hot summer's day, are proving quite popular in the catering industry.

Encouraging people to choose ice-cream over other sweet snacks, because it is handmade and more nutritionally balanced, Felix Llinares revealed that the next culinary challenge would be to create a sheep cheese flavour.

So, if you fancy something different, why not try these 'designer' treats … Though I think I might be sticking to the more traditional flavours - after all, the old ones are always the best!