While most ice cream parlors are content to serve up scoops of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, some enterprising sweet aficionados have taken matters to inventive—and often wildly delicious—new heights. And why shouldn’t they? Anything from haggis to Taylor ham to ghost peppers can exist in frozen form.

Yet while, say, raw herring ice cream might exist more for shock value than anything else, the following ice cream-makers aren’t about gimmicks. Whether it’s a Serbian ice cream parlor swirling rakiaand poppy seeds into their cones or a Mexico City shop known for scoops with hoja santaor Oaxacan chocolate, these confections are defined by a genuine sense of place.