8 Best Popsicles Made with Real Fruit

 

Summer is here. As this may be one of the hottest summers yet, we’re all looking for a way to stay cool. And who doesn’t enjoy a cold summer treat? A favorite of mine for those hot days has always been popsicles.

As a child, I remember coming inside the house after basking in the warm sun and reaching into that box in the freezer for a cold popsicle. I still love a good pop as a way to cool off, but I don’t go for any of the brands I had as a child. The popsicles may have tasted sweet, but learning what was in them makes the memories bittersweet. The ones I had as a child were all filled with some of the worst ingredients you can find in food, including high fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial dyes and flavors. Many of them lacked any real ingredients.

Fortunately, things are beginning to change. Since starting my blog almost a decade ago, I’ve seen a steady a growth in popsicles made with real fruit. I seem to discover a new real popsicle brand pop up (no pun intended) every year. In addition to using fruit in place of chemicals for flavor and color, a number of these natural popsicles also include some vegetables. Some of the companies make creamsicles using either grass fed or plant based dairy. A couple of these popsicles use no sugar or added natural sweeteners while others add a small amount of cane sugar.

There are several different types of popsicles. The first is the classic ice popsicle on a stick. Then there are the freezies, or freeze pops, which are water based as opposed to the ice popsicles being juice based. Freezies come in plastic sleeves and don’t require refrigeration. And more recently, we’ve seen the emergence of a new type of popsicle known as a smoothie pop. These are essentially frozen smoothies which also come in plastic sleeves, but do require freezing. 

In alphabetical order, here are 8 popsicles made with real fruit:

 

Blendtopia

Certified raw food and holistic nutritionist Tiffany Taylor learned early on that whole food nutrition is the key to living healthy. She founded Blendtopia so there could be company which offered better-for-you foods which were easily accessible and great tasting. Her desire to start this brand was due to both her devotion to clean eating and helping a friend with cancer. Tiffany views the science behind her products to be as important as the ingredients which go in them. Blendtopia has smoothie pops in multiple flavors plus smoothie kits.

 

Chloe’s Pop

Chloe Epstein was assistant district attorney  who started to pay more attention to eating healthy food as she was pregnant with her first child. After leaving the law, she began experimenting to create a product with just fruit, water, and cane sugar. First, a shop was opened in New York followed by the product being sold in stores as well. Chloe’s has regular fruit popsicles, fruit popsicles dipped in chocolate, oat milk popsicles, popsicles with licensed Marvel Comics and Nickelodeon characters, and even pina colada popsicles powered by Zumba.

 

Country Orchard

Kisko is a family run business which has been making high quality freeze pops, popsicles which are stored in plastic sleeves and don’t require refrigeration. Recently Kisko introduced an organic line known as Country Orchard. Their juice pops contain 100% organic ingredients and are free of all major allergens, artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. Country Orchard flavors are available in two different combo packages: strawberry mango & orange pineapple and tropical passion & berry blast.

 

DeeBee’s Organics

Dionne Baker has a PhD in medical research in the field of maternal-fetal toxicology. She wrote her doctorate on the effects of exposure to chemicals in terms of fetal development during pregnancy. Dr. Dionne strongly supported the health science behind organics and wanted start a company which would allow people to snack consciously while still being able to have fun. One afternoon at home in her kitchen, one kid was making tea while the the other was making popsicles. The two kids were fighting for help from their mom. Then the older child came up with the idea of joining forces and making teasicles. Soon TeaPop was created. Now known as DeeBee’s Organics, Dionne focuses on freezies in the variety pack options of tropical superfruit and classic superfruit. And recently, DeeBee’s has added  plant based gelato pops and Italian ice to its line. 

 

GoodPop

While GoodPop founder Daniel Goetz was college student in Texas, one hot summer day he was in need a cold treat. Unfortunately, all of the places were selling popsicles filled with artificial flavoring, coloring, and ingredients he couldn’t pronounce. So he decided he needed to make ones with natural ingredients himself. GoodPop has dabbled into all kinds of flavors. Along with various fruit combos, they have a couple of dairy free coconut cream pops. These include orange ‘n cream and a gluten free cookies ‘n cream flavor. GoodPop also has expanded into making freezies and push pops. GoodPop also partners with a number of nonprofits and organizations.

 

JonnyPops

JonnyPops dates back to when its founders Erik Burst and Connor Way were college roommates and they perfected the recipe in their college dorm basement. The ingredients have always been real fruit, heavy cream, cane sugar, purified water, and a pinch of salt. The name JonnyPops is in memory of Erik’s cousin Jonny who began on the journey with him. As the founders believe in sharing kindness to make the world a better place, a good deed is printed on every popsicle stick. In addition to their fresh cream pops, they also have flavors dipped in chocolate, dairy free pops with oat milk, and organic fruit popsicles. JonnyPops also partners with local communities to create Smart Snack-approved pops where they take part in anti-bullying campaigns in schools nationally.

 

reHarvest  Provisions

The story of reHarvest Provisions begins with Kathryn Bernell as a grad student pressed for time as she was studying the food waste epidemic while also struggling to fit more fruits and vegetables into her diet. She tried making smoothies, but felt her kitchen became a war zone in doing so. Kathryn found a way to take smoothie shortcuts to reduce food waste. Her two are principles are rePurpose and reHarvest. rePurpose means working with food manufacturers offload produce which would otherwise be thrown away. reHarvest involves partnering with farmers who have surpluses and/or imperfect produce. The rePurposed and reHarvest food is turned into smoothie pops in the flavor combinations of very berry glow, tropical bliss recover, super greens, frosé all day chill, and raspberry lemonade refresh.

 

Sambazon

In 2001, SAMBAZON was founded as a triple bottom line business after tasting an açaí bowl in Brazil. Since then, SAMBAZON has made many great advancements with the sustainability of açaí berries. They they pioneered organic certification standards with the USDA for açaí. SAMBAZON created the Sustainable Açaí Project to establish long term goals for the industry. They also built the largest and most technically advanced açaí processing facility in the world, located in Macapá, Brazil. Then in 2008, they developed Fair Trade certification for açaí with Ecocert. SAMBAZON has a wide range of açaí berry offerings such as their açaí smoothie pops mixed with the flavors of blueberry and strawberry banana. 

 

Sweet Nothings

Beth Porter found herself in the common scenario of looking for healthy snacks which her kids would want to eat. Beth noticed that people of all ages love smoothies. The problem with smoothies though was she neither had the time for making them or for the cleanup involved. One day while opening the freezer, the idea came to Beth to make the smoothies and then freeze them. Sweet Nothings was born. All of the smoothie pops contain various fruits and vegetables plus chia seeds and only dates for sweetening. In addition to the smoothie pops, Sweet Nothings produces spoonable smoothies and nut butter bites.

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