Tuesday

1927: popsicles

It would be a shame if I did not pay tribute to the quintessential summer treat...the popsicle. (I had a delicious strawberry pop for breakfast yesterday & thought it was a brilliant idea.) As you enjoy this frosty treat, think about paying tribute to Mr. Frank Epperson and the "Epsicle."
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"The third member of the great novelty trimuvirate of the 1920s was born on a cold eureka-shouting morning in New Jersey in 1923. The inventor was Frank Epperson, who made lemonade from a specially prepared powder that he sold at an Oakland, California, amusement park. While visiting friends in New Jersey, he prepared a batch of special lemonade and inadvertantly left a glass of it on a windowsill with a spoon in it. The temperature went down below zero during the night and in the morning Epperson saw the glass. He picked it up by the spoon handle and ran hot water over the glass freeing the frozen mass. In his hand was the first Epsicle, later to be known as the Popsicle. Epperson saw immediately the potential of what he held in his hand and applied for a patent, which was granted in 1924. He was fortunate, because research conducted by The Ice Cream Review in 1925 revealed that a major ice cream company was experimenting with "frozen suckers" at the time of the windowsill incident, and as far back as 1872 two men doing business as Ross and Robbins sold a frozen-fruit confection on a stick, which they called the Hokey-Pokey."
---Great American Ice Cream Book, Paul Dickson [Atheneum:New York] 1972 (p. 83)

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My recipe revamp and vote for a homemade popsicle recipe is below:

Watermelon Popsicles

Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups seeded diced watermelon
1/2 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened, thawed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in blender; puree until smooth. Strain into 2-cup glass measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Pour puree into Popsicle molds, dividing equally. Freeze overnight. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Keep frozen.) photo

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