Spinach Ice Cream Inspired By Popeye Debuts For Fleet Week

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn-based ice cream chain Van Leeuwen's menu of vegan scoops are probably already healthier than most other ice cream spots, but a new flavor added this week will even let customers get their share of leafy greens along with their daily serving of cashew milk.

Van Leeuwen's debuted a vegan spinach flavor inspired on Monday inspired by Popeye as a way to celebrate New York City's upcoming Fleet Week, vegan outlet VegNews first reported.

The flavor, named "Popeye's Fleet Treat," will be available for a limited time in honor of the spinach-loving cartoon characters 90th birthday. Its creation was a collaboration between the ice cream company and entertainment company Kings Features.

“When we were presented with the opportunity to collaborate with an icon like Popeye, we wanted to make a special flavor that was plant-based since everyone knows he gets his strength from eating lots and lots of spinach,” Ellie Zitsman, head of research and development at Van Leeuwen, told VegNews.

The new ice cream gets its Popeye flavor from organic spinach, extra virgin olive oil, turmeric and sea salt. It is also made with the company's usual vegan ingredients, such as raw organic coconut oil, raw cashew milk and cocoa butter.

“With summer coming, we think Popeye will be happy to swap out his normal canned spinach for a triple-scoop of our spinach and olive oil-infused vegan ice cream,” Zitsman said.

The flavor goes along with King Features year-long celebration of Popeye, which includes a comic strip series and new animated shows on YouTube.

It will be available at select shops, including the SoHo, South Street Seaport, and Hudson Yards locations until June 2.

Van Leeuwen runs more than a dozen shops in both New York City and Los Angeles, including its spot in Greenpoint, where the company makes all its ice cream from scratch. The company was started in the spring of 2008 out of a truck by its owners, both from Brooklyn.