I am from Up Nort’. Well, Green Bay, Wisconsin, to be exact. (Technically, Green Bay is northeast Wisconsin, but relative to Missouri… The actual “Up Nort” is the northwoods of WI, and beyond. No, there is no “h” in the word north when spoken in my native ‘Sconnie dialect.) Therefore, I do not like the springs, the summers, or even most of the falls here in Missouri. Winter is nice, but I would prefer a bit more cold and snow. So, when I am again accosted by the oppressive humidity, I must look for all the ways to cool myself.
This month, I have begun preparations to fight the heat. My focus will be frozen treats, and this subject seemed like a great topic for a blog post! I made a list of books that looked interesting, though I focused on only a few. Some of these titles will be vegan, as I try to avoid dairy. Additionally, most are kid-friendly.
The first book I latched onto was, “Glow Pops” by Liz Moody.
This is a small book, but it contains plenty of information. Not every item has an accompanying photo, but the pictures included are clear and mostly focused on the item. Each recipe is scaled for the same yield. 55 recipes are given in five sections: Fruity, Creamy, Chocolatey, Savory, and Green. “Glow Pops” has a definite focus on healthy ingredients and minimizing the use of refined sugars (in fact, no white granulated sugar is used in any of the recipes). There are tips on how to make your own homemade non-dairy milks: coconut, almond, and cashew. “Glow Pops” quickly inspired me to make my own popsicles. The first kind I made was Raspberry/Basil, there’s not a recipe specifically for this combination, I just approximated from the first recipe that really caught my eye, Blueberry/Lavender. My creation came out pretty good, but the flavor was possibly a bit too intense, it could have used a bit of water to thin it out. A couple weeks later, I decided to give the proper recipe a shot. Unfortunately for the recipe, I noticed a can of coconut milk on my shelf and decided I wanted to make a creamy popsicle. But, I still wanted the flavors of the other recipe. I combined both to make my own creation. Not everything worked as intended. The taste is fine, but I missed some opportunities to make it great. Learning experience.
“Paletas” by Fany Gerson is the next title I looked at.
If you’re looking for more than popsicles, this book is for you. This book includes ideas for shaved ice and aguas frescas (and more). The recipes rely a bit more on granulated sugar and dairy, but the results look amazing. Most recipes are scaled to make 8-10 pops, though a few make a few more, some a few less. The material isn’t sorted for ease-of-use, in my opinion. The only sections are Paletas/Ice Pops, Raspados/Shaved Ice, and Aguas Frescas/Refreshing Drinks, but within the savory and sweet recipes are intermixed. Some recipes can be a bit more complicated and rely on ingredients/recipes that are not in the book, but the reader is referred to other works by the author.
Finally, “People’s Pops” by Nathalie Jordi, David Carrell & Joel Horowitz.
Recipes are scaled to make 10 pops. A nice touch is the ingredients are given in both volume and weight measurements. Because this book is sourced from a business, the photos all have branding and there are some “our story” sections. One of the reasons I love popsicles is that there are so few ingredients, and People’s Pops is true to that; no recipe has more than five ingredients. However, some call for multiple steps, like roasting of ingredients. The material is sectioned by season rather than sweet or savory (there are very few savory recipes). Coincidentally, there is a recipe for raspberry/basil popsicles in this book, but I did not use it for my creation, or maybe I did? I don’t remember. It’s a popsicle, not cryptography, don’t over-complicate.
