For the third consecutive year, Salt & Straw is celebrating its Upcycled Food Series, introducing unique new flavors crafted from upcycled ingredients. As part of its effort to combat the millions of pounds of food waste in the U.S. each year, the new menu offers a delicious solution to help reduce food waste through ice cream.
Co-founder Tyler Malek has partnered with seven trailblazing brands that focus on reducing food waste to create innovative flavors that rewrite the narrative by utilizing often-wasted ingredients. These flavors feature overly ripe bananas and peaches, forgotten coffee beans, and more, repurposed to create delicious treats.
The special menu is composed of five flavors: Malted Potato Chip Cupcake, Coffee and Stone Fruit Marmalade, Salted Grapefruit Coconut Julep, Banana Parsnip Sherbert, and Sourdough and Olive Oil Chocolate.
This series has rescued nearly 50,000 pounds of food waste over the past two years, embodying Salt & Straw’s mission to reinvent the ice cream experience by using their brand as a platform for storytelling, with this menu specifically highlighting food waste.
Each flavor is created in partnership with an organization that is making its contribution to reducing food waste around the world. The Coffee and Stone Fruit Marmalade flavor was made in collaboration with Atomo Coffee and Hello! I’m Ugly to divert 1,657 pounds of food waste.
The Malted Potato Chip Cupcake is a collaboration with Uglies Kettle Potato Chips and Renewal Mill, diverting over 2,862 pounds of food waste. This chocolatey flavor features malty chocolate barley milk ice cream with chunks of fudgy chocolate-glazed cupcakes and chocolate-dipped Uglies potato chips, finished with a thick ribbon of caramel.
“Atomo Coffee is an innovative company that creates 50 percent beanless blends from food scraps like date pits and carob,” Malek said. “The earthiness of the Arabica blend complements the jammy marmalade beautifully.”
In addition to reducing food waste, Salt & Straw is also committed to serving people with dietary restrictions. The new Sourdough and Olive Oil Chocolate offers a delicious vegan option for those seeking to avoid dairy.
All Salt & Straw shops have committed to using five-ounce certified compostable scoop cups, eliminating 28,000 pounds of paper waste without changing the portion size. A smaller cup means a lighter footprint with the same generous scoop of ice cream. For more, visit saltandstraw.com.
