Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Cantaloupe Popsicles!

So we love our CSA, but as much as I know it will be delicious because it's fresh from the farm and whatnot, I just have a hard time motivating myself to eat cantaloupe. We were about to leave for a weekend trip, and this guy had been staring me in the face for 2 weeks. Clearly, time for Cantaloupe Popsicles.

These are ridiculously easy - cantaloupe, lemon juice and a little sweetener (I used Simple Syrup). If your cantaloupe is sweet and fresh, you can probably skip the sweetener, but I like to play it safe when it comes to sugar.

For the uninitiated, Simple Syrup, as its name implies, takes very little time or skill. Combine equal parts sugar and water (say, 1/2 cup of each) in a pot and heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

Next, get your cantaloupe ready to be blended. Scoop out the seeds.


And then chop it up so your blender can handle it. Or use a food processor, if you have one and don't mind cleaning all those small parts.


Add the cantaloupe, 1 tsp lemon juice and simple syrup to taste and blend away! All the popsicle and ice cream books say that it should taste slightly too sweet before you freeze it. Something about the freezing process makes it less sweet.



Fill up your molds! Leave a little space at the top.



Freeze and enjoy. Pro tip: Run the molds under hot water for a minute for easy removal. Or, do what my husband does and just hold it in your warm hands until you can pull it off.

Cantaloupe Popsicles

Ingredients

1 small cantaloupe, seeded and cut into chunks. About 4 cups.
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup simple syrup, more or less to taste

Directions

In a blender or food processor, blend the cantaloupe, lemon juice and simple syrup until smooth. The liquid should taste slightly too sweet. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze (4-6 hours). Run under hot water to remove.


And a recommendation...

If you're in the Bay Area and interested in joining a CSA, I highly recommend Farm Fresh to You. CSA's give you fresh, local produce, and they guarantee local farmers a market for their goods: it's a win-win. Farm Fresh to You is a group of several local farms and they have several different types of boxes (we get the Small Mixed) and you can get them as often as you want (we do every other week) and you can exclude anything you want and they replace it with more of something else (because let's be serious, we will never consume a head of lettuce or a bunch of celery). If you use the code 6164 and the name Laura Hawkins, you get $10 off your first delivery!

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