When our friend Fidela invited us over for Iftar recently and served us passion fruit juice, all was instantly great in the world and when she gifted us a parcel of fresh passion fruit to take home, we went straight to summer heaven.
Of allthe seasons, summer seems most filled with nostalgia for us. Maybe it’s the freedom we had away from school and rarely relaxed house rules that etch memories of daily jubilee, picking fresh fruit by sticks, stones and to the demise of some, even broken bones.
Chef Lij was the last of four boys with a big sister and though he was the baby, he had to try to toughen up fast to show that he was on par with his older siblings. I also grew up around boys and as the only girl for a decade, I was one of them. If you mention my name, my Aunty Claudette will still tell you the story of how I broke a branch of her mango tree swinging from it. My poor father.
Summer was also the time I got to visit the family farm in the country, eating freshly picked heirloom tomatoes still warm from the sun and cucumbers that were oozing with freshness. It was then I developed a love for tomato jus and why even now, I make my salsa runny so that sip it all up.
But outside of the fresh fruits and vegetables, our childhood summers were filled with memories of frozen treats. From the homemade ones made quite rustically in clean tiny plastic bags that we called “suck suck” to those long slender popsicles we called “kisko” to these wooden stick ones we called “icicle” we would lick and lick and suck and bite away while the sticky sweet juices ran down our hands and chins in the tropical summer heat.
We cannot again be children, but there is no reason to forget the childish enthusiasm that we had way back then when we got a frozen treat. Some things are meant to be sacred.
I have been meaning to post popsicles for several months now and even got one of those plastic moods, but held off until I could source this one that links me back to the days of eating much-loved icicles.
Let me hasten to say that any Jamaican seeing those seeds in the popsicle/icicle will think “Chef and Steward done gone mad” because traditionally, we strain the seeds when using the passion for juice. However, since this is a frozen application, it is ok to use the seeds and they also give a more stylized and grown up appeal. I taste tested with my discerning 5-year-old neighbour who thought it was so “Very tasty” that she didn’t want to share with her parents. As I write this, I am on my third.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup fresh passion fruit
1/2 cup sugar (or other sweetener)
5g ginger
450ml water
Half a lemon or lime
10g plain, unsweetened gelatine (optional)
Method:
- Blend ginger with water and strain. Add other ingredients except gelatine then mix together.
- If using gelatine, dissolve in 1/4 cup hot water, whisking briskly. When properly dissolved, add to juice mixture whisking to incorporate.
- Pour in popsicle mould and freeze.
- Remove each popsicle to serve and enjoy like a kid on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon!
I have yet to use the molds I bought. As summer is fleeting I better get busy.
Would love to see what delights you come up with Sandra!
Very nice Steward! Sounds great, and simple to make! Thanks for sharing
Thanks Bev. It is great to make and safe for kids in the kitchen.
Steward you sooooo read my mind with the seeds….I was like has Kari gone crazy with those seeds :). Sounds like a good treat and as Mr. Taf loves passion fruit as I do I shall try making this before summer is over :).
LOL! You see, I knew some Jamaican would be coming here and with a WTF face! I am sure he will love these. You can always leave the seeds out 🙂
This looks so yummy!! I remember my grandmother’s next door neighbor in Linstead, Jamaica passion fruit tree. That tree was full of them. I use to eat them until I would get sick. Love, love, love passion fruit! Popsicles is a fab idea.
Don’t I know the impulse of eating those delicious Jamaican organic fruits until you get sick! Glad we were able to resonate with your own memory of a fun childhood!
Always had pop-sicles in our house, but our molds were not so ‘grown up’ 🙂 And we iced everything liquid. Oh those days. Maybe I’ll draw for the Ribena berry mold and do me a few 🙂 lolol Good one Kari
So that is where your kitchen experimentation started! You see how something as simple as a popsicle can create a link with the kitchen and great memories along the way!
lolol Ohhh the things we (Ray not so much) used to do. Mi poor modda 🙂 Is a wonder we survived.
And am I happy you did!
Ooh, love the idea! The passion-fruit vibrant color looks brilliant – very tempting.
The photos are phenomenal!!!! I tasted, drooled, craved and smelled and tasted again and again and again!!! I am so making this! And all in for the seeds, looks gorgeous and very natural!!
Love it Kari, and thoroughly enjoyed reading 🙂
Happy you liked it! Summer is better with passion fruit!
Two thumbs up! I can relate to growing up with icicles, cool down aka suck suck and custard blocks and I’m trying to pass that on to my son. I currently have a batch of pineapple lime pops in the freezer that I was supposed to blog about lol…this post gave me the extra push I need to do it. I absolutely love passion fruit and can imagine how refreshing these pops would be.
Happy to see that you have the same word fro them in Guyana …. love the “cool down” one for “suck suck.” Just how descriptive we Caribbean people are… so we buy it.. so we sell it! Looking forward to your post!
Lovely!! I’m working on a passion fruit flan now… need to get it up on the blog. This looks so refreshing. I love how you can see the seeds through it. We don’t have passion fruit in Cuba so it’s wonderful to get my hands on it and play around with whats akin to us.
Lovely! We are also working on more passion fruit recipes. Would love to try and share your flan when you complete it! Never knew passion fruit isn’t available in Cuba. We really just need to visit on the next trip to Jamaica!
Wow these look soooo good! Will have to make some 🙂 I love your blog! Please check out mine if you get a moment! Keep up the great posts
Wow, I loved the name of this recipe, Passion on a stick. I have never tried passion fruit yet but his Popsicle looks fabulous.