I recently procured a
set of ice pop molds: plastic vessels with lids that
include a plastic stick to penetrate whatever goes inside the mold;
they came as a set of six with their own tray to hold them securely upright
in the freezer. My son, who is no longer a child – he’s twenty-one this summer
– persuaded me to buy them when we spotted them strategically placed near the
check-out stand at our local grocery. And the pop molds have prompted us to devise a number of delectable frozen treats
this summer.
First came coconut bars; we made four different versions. I got us
started with a simple and straightforward blend of canned coconut milk, organic
sugar and water. We stirred the warm water and sugar together until the sugar
was dissolved then added the coconut milk, distributed the mixture evenly
between the molds and popped them in the freezer. While his sixteen-year-old
brother and I thought these were perfect, my older son thought they needed some
work.
“The ice crystals are too large,” he said, “and they could use some shredded
coconut.” Our next trip to the city found us scouring the freezer section at
Viet-Wah, Seattle’s huge and wonderful Vietnamese grocery store. We bought
frozen shredded coconut and a box of coconut cream, richer than mere coconut
milk. This time the mixture went into the food processor before it went into
the molds, but the results were less than perfect; the pops seemed dry and a
little grainy. We persevered.This
time an unprocessed mixture of coconut cream, shredded coconut, sugar and water
spent a short sojourn in the ice cream maker before going into the molds.
“I think the ice cream maker will prevent the formation of those large
crystals,” I said “and if we don’t process the mixture, the shredded coconut
won’t give it that mealy texture.” Voila! We had nailed it!
Next came frozen fudge bars. Fudgesicles® were my favorite treat from the ice
cream truck when it rolled through the suburban scene of my childhood summers
so I set about trying to recreate the elusive texture of those “quiescently
frozen confections.” I had always wondered just what that meant, but had never
bothered to look it up; turns out it means “frozen in a restful state,” to
distinguish it from ice creams which are churned. Mystery solved.
After boiling a mixture of water, sugar, corn syrup and cocoa powder, I added
milk and vanilla. The results were good. The flavor is infinitely
better than the flavor of the processed junk,but the texture was not as smooth as the traditional
‘sicles. A visit to the Popsicle® website revealed the ingredients list for my
gold standard. Some guar and some palm oil were involved. Guar gum – not as dreadful as it sounds is actually a starch derived from the
guar bean and Bob’s Red Mill produces 8-ounce bags of the stuff that cost less
than four dollars at my local grocery store. Like other polysaccharides, the
complex starch acts as thickener and a binder; it does basically the same
things eggs might do in a traditional ice cream or custard. Palm oil in the
form of Spectrum® natural organic shortening comes in a two-pound tub. I
usually have some on hand for certain pastries; but that’s another story. So my
next attempt at frozen fudge pops will include both of these -- albeit in trace
amounts. For now, here’s the best I have come up with so far:
While perusing that Popsicle® website I learned that the world’s most popular
flavor for the frozen treats is cherry. So, before cherry season is over, I’m
trying out some Bing cherry pops. The surprisingly short and non-scary
ingredients list on the original brand lists guar gum in these as well. But I’m
thinking natural fruit pectin might be more appropriate. I'm going to try some peach pops using the same technique. I'll
post the results of those experiments soon.
Meanwhile, some early-ripening blackberries prompted our third ice pop flavor. These
little beauties, still warm off the canes in the backyard were pureed with a sugar at the end of an immersion blender then passed through a strainer to
remove the seeds. We stirred in Greek style yogurt and opted for an agitated
rather than quiescent finish. That is to say, we put the stuff in the ice cream
maker to get it mostly frozen before piping it into the molds. The results?
Sublime.
