It’s creamy, delicious, made from natural ingredients – and a very particular shade of purple.
Purpleman ice cream is here!
It‘s been created by Stef Blair, owner of Mrs B’s Emporium of Gifts on Shambles, where Purpleman is carrying out a marathon slow motion walk to raise funds for war-torn Ukraine.
And 50p from every Purpleman purple ice cream sold will go to his Ukraine appeal.
Stef makes it at her ice cream parlour, LICC on Back Swinegate, and brings it to Shambles to sell.
It is vanilla flavour – but the colour took some perfecting…
“To find the right colour to match Purpleman was trial and error,” Stef told YorkMix.
“We don’t use food colouring, we use beetroot powder. So it was just a matter of how much we were putting in it to really perfect the colour. I think we’ve got there with this one.”
Already a hit
And it’s proved a hit.
“We started last week, and it’s already gone fantastically well – we sold out twice in one week.
“We originally thought it would be a one off, but we’ve decided that this is here to stay!”
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Purpleman said Stef came to him with the idea, “and I was quite moved by this gesture”.
“Ice cream, gelato, is a comfort food so we’re trying to make people feel good about something that’s not particularly nice – because above the clouds the sun is always shining,” he said.
“There’s a lot of love around, but people do forget – so maybe we need something like ice cream to remind them that love is still required in Ukraine.”
Met many Ukrainians
Purpleman is planning to complete 282 days walking in slow motion along Shambles for his Ukraine appeal.
In that time, he will cover about 1,695 miles – the distance from York to Kyiv.
So far he has met about 80 Ukrainians, most refugees staying with families in the city. “On behalf of York and myself I tell them how much they are loved and share hugs which often result in much emotion and many tears from those who have escaped the war.
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“All the Ukrainians I have met seem so grateful and overwhelmed by they support and love that they see demonstrated, especially in York.
“‘Love is always stronger than hate, fear and violence’ – something I’ve been saying for a while and the mantra of my work I guess.”
He says he’s on target to donate more than £10,000 to the appeal, with an announcement soon regarding the positive direct action PM and the team will be taking in Ukraine.