I is for Ice Lollies

 

The letter "I" might not be rich in vegetables but we were undaunted. Having scoured the markets and searched the internet, we came up with Iceberg Lettuce. Now although this is a noble lettuce, it will have to wait until it features under L. But the iceberg theme caught my imagination. We had a hot, humid weekend in London and Freddie heard the cheery chimes of Mr Softee in the distance. I suspect that Mr Softee has,at some time in the past, attached a tracking device to Freddie so that wherever he is, the ice cream van finds him. Mr Softee was getting closer and closer, the chimes were getting louder and louder until the van stopped two doors down. Target located. An hour later when the ice cream had been bought and consumed, Freddie was thinking aloud. "Wouldn't it be good if the ice cream van sold healthy food so that parents didn't mind buying things?" And that is when the idea for Vegetable ice lollies was born. "Veggie Lipsmackers" were dreamt up by our chief namer of food, Alexandra.
As a child in the seventies, Mr Frosty loomed large. My friend Becky owned one. We would sit in the porch tipping ice cubes into Mr F's head, turning the handle to produce the magical ingredient of crushed ice. Then we would pour undiluted orange squash on top. And we would eat it super-fast until we yelled out "Head Freeze" and collapsed on to the floor holding our foreheads.
The kitchen was turned into a Veggie Lipsmacker production line. Tasters sampled potions made from carrot, orange, beetroot, grape and apple juice. The most popular formulas were carrot and orange juice in equal measure and beetroot and apple. The children decided that they liked the colour of beetroot but the taste needed to be sweetened with apple juice. They poured the juice-mixtures into the ice lolly moulds and froze them for a couple of hours. Mr Frosty would be proud of us.

 

VEGGIE LIPSMACKERS
Ice lolly moulds
Apple juice
Beetroot juice
Carrot juice
Orange juice
Purple grape juice
Use any combination of vegetable and fruit juice that you like. We found that half and half carrot and orange was delicious as a lolly. A quarter beetroot to three quarters apple juice was popular. Or combine half grape juice with half beetroot for a purpletastic lolly.

PS Don't tell Mr Softy...