Tuesday, June 26, 2007

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...

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:12 PM

    we used to have green bean and red bean (adzuki) ice lollies in Hong Kong. here is what they look like: http://loiclemeur.com/english/2004/09/the_fashionable.html

    don't listen to a word that guy is saying, they were delicious.

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  2. What a fabulous idea! The vibrant colors and natural sweetness are an easy sell. I'll forward this to my friends with kids post haste. My best friend in primary school had a Mr. Frosty - good with Ribena, but let's not tell Freddie...

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  3. Wondered what "I" would be. They're so cool!!!!
    My favourite was frozen birds custard lollies - yummy!

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  4. Brilliant idea Charlotte. If this doesn't get kids eating veggies, I don't know what will. You should market this...

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  5. i just made some watermelon pops myself, i never thought about adding carrot juice or the like! brilliant idea!

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  6. Oooh I always wanted a Mr Frosty. I used to gaze at them in the Argos catalogue - and one time they even had one on display in the glass cabinet. But for some reason we never got one. I wonder if they still make them.

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  7. My brother was a man who was selling ice cream for a while, even in a hot climate he didn't make enough to pay the rent, groceries, etc. Of course, a man and van of ice cream is nice.It was nice to have cash every day, but it just wasn't enough, and he worked 10 hours a day at it, besides.

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  8. My brother was a man who was selling ice cream for a while, even in a hot climate he didn't make enough to pay the rent, groceries, etc. Of course, a man and van of ice cream is nice.It was nice to have cash every day, but it just wasn't enough, and he worked 10 hours a day at it, besides.

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