Salt & Straw Now Uses Food Waste to Make Ice Cream

Teaming up with local nonprofit Urban Gleaners, Portland ice cream icon Salt & Straw has launched a new endeavor to combat the huge quantities of food wasted annually in the U.S. From June 2 to 31, Salt & Straw will serve five new ice cream flavors made using food that would normally get sent to the landfill.

Ready to pony up for banana-peel-and-coffee-grounds ice cream? Fear not. Salt & Straw sourced its “rescued ingredients” from established Portland businesses like Breakside Brewery and Ancient Heritage Creamery, and plus, it’s more creative than that.

Here’s a rundown on the five new Salt & Straw flavors made with rescued ingredients:

Urban Gleaners’ Toasted Baguette PB & J

Urban Gleaners receives surplus food donations and gives them to hungry Portlanders, and this ice cream is made with bread donated by local bakeries. The Toasted Baguette PB & J ice cream features a sweet cream and bread extraction, with chocolate peanut butter and a double swirl of jam made with rescued berries.

Ancient Heritage's Lemon Curd & Whey

Salt & Straw

Whey is a natural byproduct of cheesemaking, and this ice cream features whey from urban cheesemaker Ancient Heritage to make a sort of “salted whey ‘lemonade’ ice cream with gobs of lemon curd.”

Celery Root & Strawberry Celery Leaf Jam

Celery leaves and tops don’t need to be thrown away, as this ice cream flavor proves. It features surplus celery leaves and celery root from Sauvie Island Organics, plus strawberry jam.

Breakside Brewery’s Spent Grains & Bacon S'mores

This flavor comes with streaks of bacon marshmallow fluff and starts with a base involving pulverized spent grain. Spent grains are left over when beer is made, and these particular grains come from Breakside Brewery. Some were used in the ice cream base, while others were shipped to Naked Acres farm, where they were fed to the same pigs used to make bacon.

Bourbon Distilled Cherries Ambrosia (Vegan)

After Eastside Distillery makes its Cherry Bomb Whiskey, a bunch of boozy cherries remain, and Salt & Straw uses them to concoct a non-dairy ice cream that also involves Vegenaise, furnished by Urban Gleaners.

• Salt & Straw [Official]