That sounds fancy!

As far as popsicles go, I admit I like the processed, highly sweetened, artificially flavored, alarmingly colored ones. That's why I don't eat a lot of them. I DID try and love the whole fruit ones, the grape ones. Although I suspect they are not much better than the neon "orange" or "red" ones, health wise. They really hit the spot on a suffocating, hot humid Alabama summer day though.

It might not suit you at all, but The Vita-Mix was a popsicle revelation. Pear and chard, for instance is very refreshing. Slightly sweet. Probably good for you. :D. I started them because I realized when I want a popsicle, I'm not looking for sugar really. I've also done spinach. And green bean. Usually with a little fruit for flavor and fruitiness, but only a small proportion. I haven't had the courage yet, but I’m going to try green pea and carrot some time, ;)

Is there a secret to making popsicles not so much like frozen flavored water on a stick? Something that makes them less ... frozen?...but still a popsicle? Is it the fruit/veg to water ratio? TIA!

Smiles,

Sooz

Sooz, they need a bit of full fat like ice cream for a less icy cube. I go a different route with veg like plllog. Fresh fruit for the sugar. I often take a green 'veg heavy' smoothy or juice that has a bit of avocado....fiber in fruits and veg in a good blender will head towards creamy, but a full fat yogurt, not much, will get you a bit away from a flavored ice cube. Fresh fruit heated with a bit of corn starch like 2 tsps can add a better texture. Adding a little yogurt or cream with the starch even better. Some recipes add a bit of nut butter and banana for the cream. I've been experimenting with nut milks, (homemade) and one recently purchased.

I have no recipes I follow as I fill my mold when I make a juice or smoothy. Try different things and almost always good.

My 24/7 all through covid 2020 is a ginger, turmeric, lemon, apple, grapefruit, kale, pepper, ... immune boost. And a gazpacho/Virgin Mary hybrid with some of the immune boost. Sometimes mango, cashews....sesame seed, chia....a bit of fat from nuts help to add some fat. Unsweetened coconut milk is an excellent dairy-free emulsifier. Plllog is allergic to coconut but for dairy free folk it works great.

10 years ago or so I lost track of my molds. I purchased a half dozen 25 years ago at an outlet store, WilliamsSonoma. I found them on eBay....expensive. I did give a few as gifts. Mine have not materialized.

I started making baby ice cream sandwiches for bbq and summer parties. No bowls or spoons needed for a big crowd. Then wanted to go back to popsicles. But covid lockdown put that on hold.

I plan to start paying attention to combinations. I purchased the baby blue mold Fall 2019 for experimenting. I never did buy the red one. (I need wooden sticks for a big BBQ.) Really miss the ones I cannot find. (bottom two picks) They are double so I could make 50-60 easily during the week before a party.

Dried fruit like dates are excellent to keep in your freezer for a natural sweetner/emulsifier.

Fruits in season like peaches?. Chop one, blend one with cream or yogurt and a few dates, maybe a bit of banana or avocado, or a few cashews....just needs some fiber and cream/or fats.

Fiber and fat? is that it...not a pop popsicle expert.

I do think if one is looking for a favorite flavor profile it can be found and exists. A natural sugar existing instead of added pantry sugar...

Years ago I wanted to make a creamy/ice chocolate pop and a cream/dream orange sickle from my youth but better and healthier. Fudgesicle,...nothing like it. That was my first achievement.

Like plllog mentioned, a good blender is key.

When I started making 8th sheet pan blenders...2020, frozen and tender that broke apart in chunks for my tea and spa waters...it is the fiber blendered that makes natural frozens less icy. (hard ice).

Tender broken chards, not at all ice when frozen solid. Ginger. turmeric, lemon, pepper, ...chunks I put in zip-locks for our water bottles and my daily green iced tea.

Lots of good info from Sleevendog. Not so much to add, Sooz, other than the tautological less water makes it less like frozen water. :) I add just enough actual water to make the blender go round. If I'm using a juicy kind of fruit, packed in right, and it doesn't need any. As S said, what I make is pretty much frozen thick smoothie. It still has a crystalline structure and an iciness, being that that's what a popsicle is, but it's not the frozen water you describe. Mine usually don't have any fat, but are high in fiber.

Think of it as a continuum: There's the commercial popsicle of my childhood which we got once a week at camp after swim. You could suck on them and get all the flavor, color and sugar out, leaving white ice.

Then there's the college girl put the "packed in juice" liquid from canned fruit (back when fruit was truly seasonal!) in a popsicle mold. That had the consistency of ice, but the fruit and water were inseparable.

There are paletas made with fruit and milk. They're popsicles, just frozen, not churned or in any way ice creamed. They have a creamier texture than the prior versions, because of the milk, but they're more like frozen peaches and cream than frozen peach pudding/custard or ice cream. There's a crystalline structure, still, and an iciness.

Next step would be the Fudgesicle, that once a Summer camp treat that everybody swooned for. Somewhere between ice cream and popsicle, it has a definite creaminess but also an obvious crystalline structure. It licks or sucks like ice cream, but bites like a popsicle, and has a more "frozen" feeling than an actual ice cream bar.

The ne plus ultra of ice pops is the 50-50 bar (sometimes they showed up at camp and I was able to wangle one). Vanilla ice cream on the inside, covered in orange popsicle. The orange part was stage one icy and the middle was creamy ice cream without the iciness or crystalline texture. The combination of the two was delightful!

After that, we're into full on ice cream bar territory.

My veggie/fruit popsicles are mostly in the territory of the stage 2, juice popsicles. Add a little almond butter or yoghurt---or probably some banana or avocado--and it's the stage 3/paleta level of froziness. Sorbets turned popsicle can be at any of these levels, but add enough cream or maybe full fat Greek (drained) yoghurt and it might even get to the Fudgesicle stage.

Given the continuum, however, frozen treats are based on the idea of freezing water. Using veggies and fruits just means the water is whacked out of them by the blender.

Thanks sleevendog and plllog for all the extra helpful info!! I remember 2ManyDiversions lovely photos of her popsicles. RIP (((2Many)))

Here's a link to a fudgesicle recipe posted by Jasdip, on a thread started by 2Many. I had everything except the molds, so I made do with a few paper cups - made half a recipe and they came out delicious!

2Many's thread about popsicles with Jasdip's fudgesicle recipe

Well it's far to come here for anything icy so I'll have to lick vicariously.

Islay Corbel... LOL ! ! I know what you mean!