Watermelon Pops
Yields 30 ounces of pop batter
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Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups ripe watermelon, chopped (seedless makes life easier)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 pinches kosher salt
Special equipment:
Blender
Wire-mesh strainer
Ice-pop mold (Erin likes the Norpro one from Amazon for home use), but small paper cups will also work
Pop sticks (you can get these from the craft store)
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Place over medium, medium-high heat and bring to a simmer for two minutes or until sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool.
Chop and measure the watermelon and add it to the blender, watching out for seeds (Or, if you bought seedless, this is the part where you can pause and sip your martini.). Add the lemon juice, salt and sugar/water mixture, then blend for one to two minutes or until watermelon is completely puréed and smooth.
Pour the mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into a pitcher to catch any bits of seeds that didn't get blended. Pour the mixture into your molds, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top. If you're using paper-cup molds, you'll need to pop the cups into the freezer for a couple of hours before adding the sticks. Otherwise, they'll keep floating up, and that's, well . . . just really frustrating.
Note: Are you surprised by how much sugar these contain? Well, the pops you get from our cart are made by using a fancy quick-freeze, and we can keep the texture smooth and the flavor fabulous without needing lots of sugar. But when you make pops at home, sugar helps prevent that icy, gritty texture. If you don't mind the pops being a little icy, then by all means, reduce the sugar in this recipe. The flavor will still be super-watermelony. (That's a technical term, by the way, super-watermelony . . .)
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A contributing writer for OC Weekly, Anne Marie freelances for multiple online and print publications, and guest judges for culinary competitions. A Bay Area transplant, she graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management from Cal Poly Pomona. Find her on Instagram as brekkiefan.