While Court likes to make jam with her about-to-be-over-ripe fruit, I prefer popsicles — at least during the hot Nashville summers.  Usually I just mash/blend/puree whatever fruit I have on hand, add a spoonful or two of raw sugar (to prevent frostbite!) and I’m done.  But recently, I’ve been trying to mix it up with some fancier combinations…. After a disastrous kiwi-lime attempt, I found a winner with this grown-up strawberry popsicle with a few surprising (at least to me) ingredients…

1.  Start by pulsing/mashing 2 cups of strawberries until smooth-ish, but you still want some chunkiness for texture.

2.  Mix in 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (surprise!) and a few grinds of black pepper (double surprise!).

3.  Add raw sugar to taste.  Start with 2 tbsp and go up from there.  Keep in mind that these aren’t meant to be super sweet popsicles — you want to taste the punch of the b.v. and pepper.

4.  Pour into molds and freeze.