Ice Pops and Green Blocks
Slowly, slowly, we are working towards a Melbourne summer…. A Melbourne summer, for the uninitiated, is a roller coaster of warm days, cooler days, rain, wind, then usually baking hot for any given time. This year, we are still waiting for the baking hot part, which is kind of good in that I was able to berry pick these gorgeous babies on the weekend. So delicious!
So, I have decided to devote the next few posts to ice pops and ice cream, in the hope that the heat will come, just like in that movie ‘Field of Dreams’ with Kevin Costner…or something.
To start with, I made some pretty ice pops with coconut water, fruit and herbs, that are as simple as can be, and super refreshing. You could just use plain filtered water also if you prefer, but coconut water gives you a little extra sweetness, and all the wonderfully replenishing electrolytes.
Edible flowers work particularly well – who wants plain ice blocks when you can have one with flowers?! Or herbs. Or fruit.
To make these beautiful delights, start with choosing your flavours. For the ice-pops, I chose blueberry and lemon balm for one, and classic strawberry and mint for the other. Pour coconut water into icy pole moulds, add friends, and freeze. I like to freeze the coconut water for a while first, until it just starts to frost, so that the additions don’t all just cluster at the bottom. Once it is slightly frozen, add a popsicle stick, and pop back into the freezer until completely frozen.
For the ice blocks, I have used various edible flowers, thyme, pomegranate arils, mint and celery flowers from my celery that has gone to seed. The great thing is that they keep in the freezer beautifully, so you can …
