These pops have just enough sweetness to cut the tart grapefruit, but not so much that that you miss that refreshing pucker up taste. Tarragon adds a little bit of dimension with its bright, almost licorice flavor. And, I mean, really … who doesn’t need popsicles with flavor dimension?! (Yes, I’m making fun of myself.)
Since my son is only 3 1/2, I squeezed the grapefruits, pureed the blackberries and made the simple syrup before he got home from camp. I put all three in separate bowls and allowed him to do the pouring, mixing and stirring. He organized the bowls, counted stirs and tasted along the way to get the sweetness “just right” If you have older (more patient) kids, you can engage them in the process earlier. They can squeeze the grapefruits; measure the juice, sugar and water; and wash the blackberries.
Bottom line, these are a tasty treat that you can make with or for the kiddos. Because when you send them off on their own for a full day of fun, there’s nothing like coming home to cool off, catch up and get messy together over drippy homemade popsicles. This heat may be unbearable and I may not have the luxury of spending my day watching movies in a perfectly chilly movie theater, but these are the moments that summertime memories are made of.
You should feel comfortable sharing these relatively low sugar treats (especially the portion size a baby will eat) with your littlest eaters.
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Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
About 4 large sprigs fresh tarragon
12 ounces fresh blackberries
3 cups grapefruit juice, preferably freshly squeezed
Directions
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Make a tarragon simple syrup by combining water, sugar, and 1 sprig tarragon in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, cover and let sit about 30 minutes. Strain syrup. Set aside. (By the way, I make this syrup a little weak—i.e., not very sweet—because the blackberry puree is fairly thick and this helps thin it out without adding too much sugar.)
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Puree the blackberries with leaves from remaining 2 sprigs of tarragon. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of puree.
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Mix puree with grapefruit juice and 1 1/4 cups of syrup. You should have about 1/4 cup of syrup remaining. Use this if my version isn’t sweet enough for you. Otherwise, you can store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.
Get more recipes from Stacie at One Hungry Mama.
