Cool on the tongue

I'm not sure you really want to know this but the city of Yokohama has marked the 130th anniversary of the arrival of ice cream in Japan with a festival showcasing exotic regional varieties. Sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it and the hit of the expo turned out to be beef tongue flavour. There were other equally delicious varieties to tuck into including eel, raw horse, curry, crab and potato but organiser Manabu Matsumoto identified beef tongue ice cream from Miyagi Prefecture as the most popular variety.
More than 125 varieties of ice cream have been available in the two week festival, including cheese, octopus, prawn and a garlic variety called Dracula Premium Ice. Another favourite was flavoured with very finely sliced pieces of pearl from the traditional pearl-growing region of Japan's inland sea. Most were selling for between Y300 (£1.42) and Y800 (£3.78) for a small tub. The majority of the ice creams were clearly acquired tastes, including the beer version, which failed to recreate either the taste or texture of beer. I wonder if old Heston Blumenthal managed to pop into town, these flavours seem to be right up his street.