With warmer temperatures around the corner, I thought it was time for some outside food fun. Where I live there is even a long weekend starting to help the fun along and after the post earlier this week about flavoured sugars and zesting you need something to do with all that juice.
I promised this year that I would include more ideas for using herbs as the focus last summer was more on the plants themselves.
These can be made for kids and for adults by changing up the strength, sweetness and alcohol content.
Lemon juice is a cleansing and purifying tonic that helps with digestion and the absorbing of nutrients. It aides the digestive tract to cleanse which relieves bloating, indigestion, gas, constipation and diarrhea.
Lemon water can also be used instead of oral electrolyte solutions (such as Pedialyte or Gatorade) so if the kids have been running around all day, these popsicles will help rehydrate them.
You will need:
6 lemons
6 Tbsp. honey or simple syrup
3 cups of water or 2 cups water and 1 cup vodka
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, basil and mint
If you are growing herbs at home, this is the perfect time to get children involved in harvesting, saying thank you to the plant before cutting a piece off and understanding that it is important not to take everything but to leave enough for the plant to be healthy and continue growing.
“In my kitchen, filled with care, I welcome, Earth Fire, Water Air”.
If you are zesting the lemons, then wash and grate before juicing the fruit and put aside for another purpose.
Juice the lemons and add water/alcohol and sweetener. I used honey mixed with some of the forsythia syrup made earlier this spring. Straight honey will work just fine as well.
This combination is tart and might be too much for children, so taste as you go and add more water or honey as you prefer.
Add one half to one sprig of each herb into the jug and stir together, bruising the herbs to release their essence. Place in the fridge for an hour or so to mature.
Inexpensive popsicle molds abound this time of year but if you don’t have a set or can not find one, try using paper cups or washed, used yoghurt containers instead. The nice thing about popsicle molds is that they will fit in your mouth more easily that something wider options but slurping is allowed. Hey, these won’t be around for long and you can always get the hose out to wash and cool the “kids” at the same time.
When doing lots, I use popsicle sticks instead of the bottoms that come with the mold. They can be a lot like missing socks in the dryer so this way I don’t have to go searching and the wood can go into a fire or be recycled.
Fill the molds and place in the freezer for about an hour.
Cut up slivers of the herbs and place in the molds. At an hour the mixture should be mushy. It needs to be so that the herbs will stay throughout the popsicles when you push down. Put the herbs in too soon and they will simply float on top. The mushiness also helps the stick stay upright and centered in the popsicles themselves and now is the time to put them in.
Return the molds to the freezer and freeze until solid.
As you can see below the local strawberry season still has a little way to go but when it is here, adding crushed berries to the mix is another a tasty option.
Muddled Lemonade Popsicles from My Kitchen Wand
