Red.

The color of passion.
The hue of ambition.
The shade of succulent taste.

Even in my childish of all my addictions…
… the color red still valiantly stands up as a favorite!

Nothing beats the heat better than a crunchy, icy, tooth-punching, nerve tingling ice pop. While I love ice creams in palatable funky flavors, ice pops are something that have grown on me over the years. While I never liked the icy crunchiness as a kid, probably due to the excessive douse of sugar and staining colorants, I grew to like the homemade and natural ones that came to a rise with the surge in natural seeking behavior.

My summer favorite natural ice pop is by People’s Pops, a cool homely little shop front with periodically oscillating flavors whose ingredients are grown sustainably. I still recall when I bumped into their corner stash at Chelsea Market in New York, and was blown away by a ginger and kiwi infused pop. Two years later, I have come to realize that it has become my summer staple for a cool treat. Touted the coolest pop shop, people’s pops even has a book of 55 recipes for ice pops, shave ice and boozy pops which was launched on June 5^th. Rooted in simplicity, it simply lives on the notion of transforming fruits, herbs and veggies into tasty icy treats.

While I still enjoy the ginger, the fibrous ingredient tends to give me a flossing nightmare, though it exemplifies the fact that these are as real as they get. My favorites usually fluctuate between raspberry – called straight up raspberry, and blueberry apricot. The raspberry is such a dark, bloody red with real seeds that it evokes an image of grinding up and freezing straight up raspberries in such dense proportions – alongside evoking a vampire related oomph! Exuding a lack of sugar taste and sans staining, this one begs for more than a few licks. The blueberry apricot is infused with whole blueberries, which not only makes it look galactic (imagine rock like protrusions from the terrains of a soft, flat ice pop), but they deliver a mouthful of flavor in your mouth when they burst.

Many homemade treats have been tried by my buddies and domesticated food enthusiasts, and ironically I am always drawn to those drowning in my favorite color red, a color which has inspired me consistently over time. One of my favorites was the raspberry, currants and watermelon ice pop, red enough to reconfigure your lips into a permanent luscious pout, and each tasting like a galaxy of densely packed fruit.

The trend to infuse alcohol into ice pops has also emerged, making the “hard” ice pops an adult treat, too. Given my adoration towards the negative calorie fruit – the grapefruit – it comes as no surprise that a grapefruit and strawberry ice pop becomes an instant favorite when elevated with vodka. Inspired and consumed, this one was a winner.

While I personally have not consumed the garnet red colored blackberry mojito ice pops, the minty freshness and surreal taste of a mojito sounds enchanting, and inviting.

And to end off, if you cannot eat your ice pop, surely you can chew it right? Presenting my favorite gum flavor series by Wrigley’s – Dessert Delights! I often feel that this inventive concept was made just for me – the dessert loving health nut. Talk about apt consumer marketing and (self) positioning! While the mint chocolate chip smells and tastes just like a scoop of fresh ice cream, it’s the orange crème pop that captivates and transports me to my teenage when these were the bane of my existence.

And so ends an infatuation with red, transposed onto something so childishly addictive.

Because sometimes that’s all that you need.

A taste of something sweet and nostalgic…
…with the ability to transport you back in time.