After months of seeing photos and reading about the crocodile ice cream from local, national and international publications, I finally had the chance to try this classic dessert with a unique (spelled scary) dessert a while back at the Crocodile Park, one of the most popular attractions in Davao City.
I was looking forward to try this crocodile ice cream whose popularity has already spread far and wide, but when I saw the photo of the crocodile standing up and holding a cone of ice cream at the green hut with hot pink stripes, I began to have second thoughts.
The mind is a powerful enemy, and images of bits of crocodile flesh and scales sticking out of my ice cream or if I’m lucky to dig out a tooth or a nail made me walk slower but my buddy and I were on a dare. We were not going to go leave the Crocodile Park without fulfilling our mission, and that is to eat crocodile ice cream.
Ok, so be it! I convinced my buddy to get the crocodile pandan ice cream, promising her I will take a bite from her scoop. I ordered the ostrich vanilla, trying to shake away the feeling that I was going to take a bite of an ostrich in a cone.
There is nothing extraordinary or scary about crocodile ice cream. My ostrich ice cream which is made from ostrich eggs looked nothing out of the ordinary too. With its light brown color, it looked like ordinary ice cream.
I studied my buddy’s crocodile ice cream for long seconds but I didn’t see any bits of flesh or meat or scales in it.
Except for the extra creamy and smooth texture, we were eating ordinary ice cream, or was I just trying to convince myself?
We learned later that crocodile ice cream is actually made from a combination of milk and crocodile eggs. Each crocodile egg is about (80 percent egg yolk which makes the ice cream creamier and thicker than regular ice cream, but contains less cholesterol and gives more protein than an ordinary chicken egg.
The Crocodile Pandan ice cream and ostrich vanilla sells for 95 pesos per scoop. Durian crocodile ice cream is also available and this one you should try—especially if you haven’t tasted durian yet. The funniest description of durian I encountered yet is “a porcupine-looking fruit with a smell that stinks to high heavens.”
I love durian, but only the native species so there was no need for me to try it. Other traditional flavors available are maple bacon, coffee rush, strawberry and mango mazing , langka, cookies and cream and chocoloco and cheese cheese.
With the growing popularity of crocodile ice cream, isn’t it time time for the horses, camels, lions, unicorns and other wildlife to start hiding? Just thinking…
Lick the soft creamy coolness of the crocodile ice cream and forget about visions of biting a crocodile. On another note, why not? The chance to bite a crocodile doesn’t come to anyone’s way everyday.
If you’re in Davao City, southern Philippines, don’t forget to visit the Davao Crocodile Park and grab a scoop of the crocodile ice cream from the Ice Cream Shop from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday.