After a long morning in the garden, when you are too tired to cook, you’ll be thrilled to nosh on these refreshing homemade and possibly homegrown popsicles.  With the abundance of summer, you should be able to produce many of the below ingredients yourself. If not, support your local farmers market by picking up fresh ingredients for these garden inspired treats. I had a lot of fun making (and sampling) these frozen treats and I hope you do too!

For popsicle molds, I splurged and bought a four pack at the dollar store. A Dixie cup and wooden popsicle stick (200 for a $1) are an even more frugal option – although not reusable. Add lemon or lime to naturally sweetened fruit, which adds acidity and reduces the icy texture. Orange, lemon, guava, grape, or apple fruit juices created reliable pops that tended to melt slowly. A combination of puree and juice create infused flavors that taste and feel great. Mouthfeel is a real thing. To add texture and visual appeal, you can chop small or thinly sliced pieces of fruit into your mixtures. You can also add different ingredients at different times throughout the freezing process to create striped designs. To create creamy popsicles you can add yogurt, pureed bananas, or unsweetened coconut milk.  Freezing takes up to 6 hours, while overnight freezing is best.  Each of the following recipes will make 4 popsicles, depending on your mold size.  Mix up the below recipes in a bowl and then pour evenly in the molds.

Banana

This is a great use for all of those frozen bananas you have in your freezer, because your trees all decided to produce banana bunches at the same time.

• 1½ cups milk
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peach Strawberry Yogurt

Need breakfast on the go? Use this creamy, delicious, healthy frozen treat to get your family to the beach on time.

• 1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and pureed peaches
• 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey

Minty Watermelon

Perfectly refreshing popsicle that screams summer.

• 1 cup watermelon slices
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Fresh mint leaves

Blackberry Lemon

• 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup muddled blackberries
• 1 cup mixed berry Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice plus zest from lemons

Mango Orange Coconut Popsicles

This popsicle is like sunshine on a stick.

• 1 cup mango cubes
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 tablespoon honey

Raspberry Yogurt

• 1 cup of raspberries
• 3/4 cup of vanilla Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup of heavy cream

Pineapple cilantro

• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup fresh Pineapple , large pieces
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon packed fresh Cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Agave Nectar

Coconut Lime

• 1.5 cups coconut milk
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• Lime slices for garnishing

Blackberry Mint Julep

• 2 cups blackberries muddled
• 2 tablespoons mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Lemonade

It’s like Italian ice, but cheaper.

• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup sugar

 

Try these frozen lemonade variations!

• Blackberry-Sage
• Brazilian (With Limes and Condensed Milk)
• Cucumber-Basil with Lemongrass
• Earl Grey Lavender
• Ginger
• Raspberry Limeade
• Spicy Strawberry Jalapeño
• Strawberry lime
• Tarragon
• Thyme
• Watermelon Mint

To learn more about homesteading and garden grown drinks, check out my newest book: 99½ Homesteading Poems
Originally published in Florida Gardening Magazine Summer 2018.