It’s difficult to think of macaroni and cheese as a holiday flavor (or an ice cream flavor, at that); nonetheless, Van Leeuwen is including its Kraft Mac & Cheese ice cream reboot in its holiday lineup. For the most part, the holiday collection, carried by Walmart, seems to be pretty standard stuff: peppermint stick, caramel sticky bun, holiday cookies and cream, and a couple of obligatory salty-sweet flavors: peanut butter fudge pretzel and kettle corn. In addition to mac and cheese, though, the lineup includes another not-exactly-guaranteed people-pleaser: dill pickle.
Pickle ice cream, like mac-and-cheese ice cream, has been around for a few years, but it generally doesn’t make anyone’s list of top favorites. Blue Bell tried making this flavor a while back, only for it to flop. Similarly, pickle-flavored soft serve from a fashionable Manhattan creamery was compared to cucumber-scented hand lotion in 2018. Still, Van Leeuwen seems to be carving out quite the niche for itself as a maker of farcical flavors, as it’s also tried mustard, onion, and ranch dressing ice creams.