The Baskin-Robbins Flavor Created Specifically For The 1969 Moon Landing
Baskin-Robbins is well known for being flavorful — the company is quite literally full of flavors! Although its tagline was "31 Flavors" for a long time, according to Nation's Restaurant News, the cumulative tally of flavors it's historically offered is now over one thousand and counting. There are other signature aspects of the brand, admittedly, like its pink-hued tasting spoons, but its flavors are really what has allowed the business to go global and make millions upon millions of dollars in a year.
The Baskin-Robbins menu includes ice cream cakes, pies, and "pizzas," as well as baked treats, frozen drinks, and sundaes, plus standard cones. Baskin-Robbins flavors are anything but standard, though, with ice creams such as Cotton Candy, Daiquiri Ice, Gold Medal Ribbon, Icing on the Cake, and Pink Bubblegum available — as of late 2022. As Baskin-Robbins itself puts it, the chain has a flavor for every occasion. That includes the moon landing (just one of many surprising facts about Baskin-Robbins).
Lunar Cheesecake was out of this world!
In the entire history of humankind, the moon landing is certainly one of the most significant events thus far. The creation of Baskin-Robbins' Lunar Cheesecake flavor may be a close second in the eyes of novelty ice cream fans. Developed in 1969, Lunar Cheesecake landed in stores just a day after the lunar mission proved to be a success. Those who felt over the moon could celebrate with a cheesecake-flavored ice cream, green and white in color, full of cheesecake bits, and laced with graham cracker ribbon. It's not hard to figure out why the color white was involved in a lunar-themed food (even if the moon's appearance actually varies widely, via NASA). Why the color green and cheesecake, though?
This was simply a playful reference to the old saying that the moon is made of green cheese. While kids may truly believe this, there was never really a common belief that the moon was composed of viridescent dairy nor young "green" cheese, so to say, per Eater. One of the first known records of this idea comes from a Renaissance poet who collected proverbs with Medieval origins, including one that ridiculed the made-up belief that the moon was green. It's always just been a ridiculous example of something no one could actually think is true. It's fun and flavorful to pretend, though! The graham cracker ribbon, meanwhile, seems to be there just for flavor and texture.
Is Baskin-Robbins going back to the moon?
Imagine flying to the moon yet not setting foot on it. According to MIT News, that's exactly what happened with Michael Collins, who was part of the 1969 mission but stayed aboard NASA's spacecraft while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made giant leaps for mankind. Talk about FOMO! Missing out on Lunar Cheesecake might not feel as bad, however, it's still a shame anyone missed out on such a momentous flavor. Fortunately, Baskin-Robbins celebrated Men in Black 3 by bringing back the flavor in 2012, then did so again in 2015 to commemorate Baskin-Robbins' 70th birthday, and once more in 2019 on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
Lunar Cheesecake doesn't seem to currently be in Baskin-Robbins stores, but the chain is still taking giant leaps forward for ice cream parlors. CNN reports that the company has been focusing on modernizing its look and introducing merchandise recently. In 2022, its limited-time flavors included Non-Dairy Mint Chocochunk, Totally Unwrapped, and Ube Coconut Swirl. As for Lunar Cheesecake, a movie, a birthday, and an anniversary are all reasons enough for the flavor to reappear, but another landing could be the next justification. Sky News explains that NASA is presently taking steps toward putting people back on the lunar surface, sometime in the mid-2020s, for the first time since 1972.
If NASA succeeds, the astronauts won't find any green cheese up there, but the rest of us could rediscover green Lunar Cheesecake down on Earth.