With All This Heat, It’s a Great Time to Make Homemade Popsicles

When it's hot there is nothing like a tasty popsicle to help you cool off. Making homemade popsicles can be fun and healthy for the whole family.

Who Invented the Popsicle?

As you can see, popsicles bring smiles but who was the mastermind behind this delicious idea?

An 11-year-kid had the brilliant idea in 1905.

His name is Frank Epperson pictured above at the age of 78.

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Frank had been playing outside all day and left his cup of soda outside on the porch overnight with a stirring stick that was left inside the cup. It got cold overnight and his drink had frozen with the stirring stick in it. Once he tried it he fell in love with it and told his friends about it and first named it the "Epsicle."

When Epperson grew older and had kids of his own, he would make them for the kids who began calling it "Pops 'sicle." He decided to patent the idea in 1923 and the Popsicle was born and the rest is history.

How To Make Homemade Popsicles

When I was a kid mom used to make homemade popsicles using Kool-Aid, an ice tray, and some toothpicks. It was simple, cheap, and did the job on a hot summer day for my sister and me.

All you had to do with these popsicles was pour the Kool-Aid into the ice tray, and let it freeze a little until the ice begins to form across the top. Then you would insert the toothpicks, and let the ice trays completely freeze.

Making popsicles at home has come a long way since the days of ice trays, Kool-aid, and toothpicks. You can buy the molds to make them look like they came from the store and even the popsicle sticks. All you need is some fresh fruit, a blender or juicer, sold molds, sticks, and some patients and you are good to go.

There are two ways to make a popsicle base. You can use a water-based recipe or a dairy-based recipe

The water-based version consists of dissolving sugar in hot water. When the water cools you can add the fruit that you mixed up in your blender or juicer. You can determine the texture and flavor as you like.

The dairy-based popsicles are made by combining milk or cream, sugar, salt, spice, and juice that you put in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Cook and stir for about 30 minutes then let cool.

You can use whatever kind of mold you like since the process remains the same. Just pour your mix into the molds. You are going to want to leave a little room near the top of your mold, roughly a quarter of an inch since ice expands when it freezes.

Then you pop your molds into the freezer. Freeze your popsicles for about two hours then gently slide your sticks inside them. This time may vary depending on what you have your freezer set at. It may take a couple of tries to get the timing down but once the sticks are able to stand on their own, freeze for another 3 hours.

One of the best methods to get the popsicles out of the mold is to warm up some water (not hot) that is almost as deep as the mold. Dip the mold in for about 20 to 30 seconds and they should slide right out for the kiddos to enjoy. When you go to pull out the popsicles, if it feels like a struggle, put them back in the warm water for a little longer and they will come right out.

Once the popsicles have unmolded you and the kids are ready to cool down and enjoy.

There are a couple of ways to store the popsicles in the freezer so you can enjoy them for days to come. You can place singles in ziplock bags or you can use plastic containers using wax paper to wrap or layer them especially if there is more than one.