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.
Hmm, secret ingredients of black pepper and balsamic vinegar. What a great idea! I remember that we had some fruit combo of popsicle at your home during the last visit to Nashville and they were really delicious. YUM 🙂