As you might have read in last week’s Top 10 Ingredients to Avoid in Food post, last week my daughter had a rocket popsicle as a ‘treat’ at school that resulted in some serious side-effects. A quick look at the ingredients, and I could understand why.
water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, contains 1 percent or less of each of the following: dextrose, malic acid, guar gum, citric acid, raspberry juice concentrate, lemon juice concentrate, cherry juice concentrate, modified cellulose, natural and artificial flavor, locust bean gum, red 40, blue 1
Enter the Fresh Fruit Rocket Popsicle! When we make popsicles at home, it’s real ingredients – fresh fruit blended and frozen, sometimes with a little honey, yogurt, coconut milk, or other whole ingredients. Usually, I throw a bunch of stuff in the blender, blend until smooth, pour into popsicle molds and freeze. With Little J’s excitement at having a rocket popsicle with 3 different colors, I knew it was time to kick it up a notch and create a fresh fruit rocket popsicle at home too.
This fresh fruit rocket popsicle recipe is exactly what it sounds like. 3 different kinds of fresh fruit, blended until smooth and then frozen in layers. It’s a wee bit more labor intense than the regular popsicles I make, but well worth the fuss. A fresh fruit rocket popsicle is just plain fun.
My popsicle mold make 4 1/3 cup servings, for a total of 1 1/3 cups of liquid needed in total. This fresh fruit rocket popsicle recipe reflects these measurements. You might need to adjust it slightly to fit your popsicle mold.
Fresh Fruit Rocket Popsicle
Red Layer
1/2 cup strawberries
1-2 tsp honey, optional
White Layer
3 rings canned pineapple
coconut milk, as needed (don’t have coconut milk? use the juice from the pineapples)
Purple Layer (let’s face it, that shade of blue doesn’t exist in nature)
1/3 cup blueberries
1-2 tsp honey, optional
water, as required
Directions:
- I use my mini food processor here, but you can also use a blender. Add the strawberries to the food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add in a little honey to your desired sweetness.
- Divide the mixture evenly amongst the popsicle molds. Cover the tray with aluminum foil, poking a small hole in the centre of each and insert a popsicle stick (the aluminum foil will help the sticks to stay upright as the fresh fruit rocket popsicle freezes). Freeze for 1 hour (or longer).
- Clean the food processor. Add the pineapple to the food processor and blend until smooth, adding coconut milk as needed to reach the needed volume. Remove the fresh fruit rocket popsicle from the freezer and divide the pineapple mixture evenly between the molds. Cover again and return to the freezer for 1 hour (or longer).
- Clean the food processor. Add the blueberries to the food processor and blend until smooth. Add honey to taste until the desired sweetness is reached. Add water until the required volume is reached. Remove the popsicles from the freezer and divide the blueberry mixture evenly into the molds. Cover again and return to the freezer until solid (usually takes a few hours).
- To serve a fresh fruit rocket popsicle, remove the mold from the freezer, run some hot water over the outside of the mold to loosen the popsicles and enjoy!
Fresh fruit rocket popsicle are a great way to cool off with a healthy summer treat. What are your other favorites?
