I tried out a few recipes from 200 Best Ice Pop Recipes by Andrew Chase:

1. Pineapple Sage Ice Pops contain water, granulated (white) sugar, fresh sage leaves, salt, and a pineapple. You make a simple syrup with the water, sugar, and sage on the stove top and then add to to the pineapple which you puree in a blender. I had a very sweet pineapple on hand, so reduced the amount of granulated sugar in this recipe. These pops were delicious, The sage added an earthy herbal flavor to the pops without overpowering the pineapple. I will make them again.
2. Strawberry Lime Ice Pops contain dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar), lime zest and juice, and strawberries. I used fresh strawberries that were purchased as seconds from the Kingstowne Farmer’s Market stand that covers the individual containers with red protective nets. (The stand in question is the last one on the right if you walk towards the popcorn vendor.) These pops were tart, sweet, and extremely tasty, and I will make them again.
3. Watermelon Punch Ice Pops contain seedless watermelon, grenadine syrup, and lemon juice. These pops were supposed to be the last recipe I made from this book but I did not like how they turned out, and decided to give the book another chance. The grenadine syrup separated from the watermelon, and the pops did not taste good regardless. More lemon juice might have helped, if the grenadine syrup and watermelon had not separated. I followed this recipe precisely.
4. Sweet Screwdriver Ice Pops contain granulated (white) sugar, water, orange zest, orange juice, vodka, and orange liqueur. I tried this recipe figuring that regardless of it containing alcohol (which could affect the freezing process) that it was going to come out well. Turns out that even though I followed the recipe precisely, the pops did not completely freeze (a major problem). The pops did taste good but were soft and crumbly.

This book has some interesting recipes, and includes the following sections: Read the rest of this entry »