The best way to beat the summer heat right now is by keeping cool with something icy and juicy — like a fresh fruit popsicle!

Yes, that’s what we are making today and the best part is that we will be using fresh fruits to make it a very healthy, delicious and nutritious treat.

Oh, there is another best thing about it — it’s super, super easy to make, like all my recipes!

This fresh fruit popsicle is full of colour and a delicious mash up of fruity flavours that will recharge you at first bite. You just need a number of your favourite summer fruits, a clear juice, a popsicle mould and popsicle sticks, and you are good to go. Anyone, literally anyone, can make this cool treat!

The yet another best thing about this popsicle recipe is that it can be personalised to suit your taste, as you can use any combination of fruits, even just one fruit, and any kind of juice to make this.

The fruits you can use are: mango, peach, banana, all kinds of berries and cherries, apple, orange, watermelon, pineapple, kiwis, etc. But do use only fresh fruits.

Some fruits are tangier than sweet, such as kiwi and strawberry, so you can add a bit of sugar or honey to the juice. It is best to use a combination of sweet and tangy fruits to add a variety of flavours. As for the juice, go for a clear juice, such as lemonade (like I have used), apple juice or even a clear soda, but it would be a healthier if you don’t use a carbonated drink.

Mango or orange juice can also be used here but then the bright colour of the juice will hide the colours of the fresh fruits on freezing and you won’t get the multi-coloured look. You can also use milk, ice tea or coffee instead of juice. Experiment and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 mango, cut into small, flat pieces
• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1 peach
• 1/2 cup cherries
• 2-3 glasses of lemonade

Note: These are a rough estimate, for six popsicles that I made, and I had some fruits and juice leftover. The amount of ingredients depends on the number and size of popsicle moulds you will be using. And — another best part — all the leftover ingredients serve as an extra treat for putting together this very easy fruity popsicle!

Method

Cut the mango, peach and strawberries into small pieces. Just make sure they are not too big and a bit flat to fit easily inside the mould.

To remove the pit from cherries, take a small straw (the kind you get with small juice and milk packets). Remove the stem and push the straw into the stem hole. Gently press the straw to push the pit out of the cherry. You can also use a toothpick.

Now put the fruits in the moulds, alternating fruits of different colours so that fruits of similar shades are not on one side. Fill in as much fruit as you can. Add the juice until it is almost full, leaving a little space for it to expand on freezing.

Press the fruits gently to the sides of the mould with the popsicle stick or the handle of a teaspoon so that the fruits show well when frozen.

Insert the popsicle sticks, close firmly and freeze overnight or until well frozen.

Run the moulds under tap water to help the popsicles release. Enjoy!

The writer Instagrams @the_experimentalcook

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 21st, 2022