Healthy Snacking: Fruit Salad Ice Pops

Sometimes, there is nothing more refreshing than an ice pop when the summer weather rolls around. Icy-cold andrefreshing, they provide a nice alternative to a drink of juice. However, the ice pops that can be bought from the supermarket are often chock-full of sugars and other unhealthy things. You don’t have to give up hope, though, if you want a healthier snack! Fruit salad ice pops are easy to make, taste amazing, and are a healthy way of getting your refreshment when the sun feels like it’s burning through your skin.

Ingredients

• Assorted fruits, roughly 3/4 of a cup for bigger fruits and 1/2 for any berries or smaller fruits
• One-and-a-half cups of 100% fruit juice in your preferred flavour
• Ice pop sticks
• Ice pop mould

Directions

1. Wash your fruits and if applicable, cut into smaller chunks. For the likes of strawberries, slicing them thinly works very well, whereas other fruits such as apples would benefit from being cut into cubes.
2. Arrange your fruits into the ice pop moulds, ensuring that they fit in snugly. Add as much or as little fruit as you feel is necessary, but do not cram the mould full.
3. Pour your fruit juice into the mould, ensuring that it covers all of the fruit to the top. Try to push any fruit that protrudes out of the top of the mould down into the mould.
4. Place an ice pop stick into the mould, ensuring that it goes down to at least halfway into the ice pop mix. Pop into the freezer for at least six hours, or until fruit juice is completely frozen through. Keep in the freezer until consumption — simply pop the ice pop out of the holder and enjoy! This recipe should make enough pops for 8 people.

Tips / Tricks

• Try to keep the fruits as refreshing as possible, and avoid the more bitter fruits. Fruits such as kiwi, apple, blueberries, strawberries, peaches and nectarines work very well with this recipe.
• As there is so much flavour in the pops simply through the fruit, it is a good idea to use a fairly neutral or light fruit juice. Juices such as white grape or apple tend to work very well.
• This recipe is set for 3oz ice pop moulds, but if you want to make them any bigger, just add more juice and fruit to the mould.
• These ice pops should keep for up to 2 weeks, so if you know you’re getting a heat-wave, keeping these in the freezer means you’ll have a steady supply for two weeks, if you can keep yourself from eating them all quickly like I do!

Special thanks to losing control. and silent hearts. for editing!