As the weather gets warmer, things that naturally seem to become like diet staples are ice pops and ice cream. We Brits spent £81.6m on handheld ice cream in 2014 (the grocer.co.uk), so we clearly take our frozen treats seriously.
As delicious and irresistible ice creams and ice pops are on a warm summers day, how often do we look at what’s actually in them?
One of my favourite ice pops when I was young was the Calippo, and I can tell you now, I never looked at or probably cared what was in them.

There is only 33% fruit juice in a Calippo, and that is actually reconstituted fruit juice which unfortunately means it does not offer the high nutritional qualities of freshly squeezed juice as most of the important enzymes are destroyed through the process of heating and reconstitution.

The remaining ingredients are cane sugar, glucose, food acid, vegetable gum, flavours and colours.

 

I’m not here to negate Calippos or indeed, how lovely they might taste, but fortunately, I do have a solution that is not only cheaper but also infinitely more nutritious.

For less than £8, I purchased a set of six Silicone, Food Grade and BPA-free popsicle molds from Amazon, which are an ideal alternative to plastic –

Callippo Silicone Ice Pop Moulds Push Up Lolly Mold

I very simply squeeze the juice of an orange, pop it in the freezer and after about two hours, I have a delicious and nutritious homemade version of a Calippo!

You can fill the popsicle molds with anything; pink grapefruit (slightly sweeter than regular), orange and lemon, blackberry or blackcurrant, pineapple… I prefer to buy the organic fruit and then blend it to create a juice but you could buy organic juice if it’s easier, as long as it’s fresh juice with no added sugar and not from concentrate.
Compared to the ingredients of my childhood favourite ice pop; two homemade freshly squeezed frozen orange popsicles contain the entire amount of vitamin C recommended in a day, along with thiamin, folate, potassium, calcium, fiber and antioxidants. So you can enjoy your homemade sweet frozen treat knowing you are providing yourself and your family a wonderful amount of nutrients that everyone can enjoy.