We are in the height of summer which means heat, and which means cooling treats like popsicles. My kids love popsicles. We usually keep a pretty big variety in our freezer, often store bought. But making home made popsicles is super easy and fun.

What I love about these is they are sweet enough for kids, made with monk fruit of course, but also have a little bit of an adult sophistication with the fresh lemon verbena, compliments of my friend’s garden. If you don’t have fresh lemon verbena available, try another fresh herb, like mint, basil or chamomile. I will be experimenting with these myself in the future. Wild Blueberries are widely available in your freezer section at most markets. I have seen them at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and our local grocery store in Ojai. There is a website I found called goldbelly.com that picks them fresh in Maine and then freezes them and sends them off to you. Five pounds of berries. Due to California agriculture laws they can’t ship to Ojai, so I will rely on my grocers. We have an extra freezer in our garage for frozen fruit and broth and other extras. I use a lot of wild blueberries in smoothies and my 6-year-old Roman loves to eat them frozen out of a bowl with a spoon, rendering his entire mouth including his teeth dark blue. 

In addition to their rich color, wild blueberries are higher in antioxidants than their cultivated counterparts. Scientists have studied their brain boosting and short term memory benefits as well as inhibiting some cancer tumor growth as well as anti-inflammatory benefits for heart health. I like them too because they are low in sugar and increase beneficial gut bacteria. I love using Kingleder stainless molds found on Amazon. They come in a set of 6 or 12 with extra bamboo sticks, they are easy to remove each individual popsicle when held under warm water.

Makes 10 popsicles / Prep time 15 minutes / Freezer time 12-24 hours / Total time 24 hours

Gather

1 cup/ about 236 grams frozen Wild Blueberries

1 sprig/branch fresh lemon verbena about 6-8 leaves, removed from the stem

1/3 cup/ about 75 grams monk fruit sweetener 

1 teaspoon / 4.9 ml vanilla extract

2 tablespoons / 29.6 ml maple syrup 

One pinch salt

1 can 13.5 ounce/ 398 ml unsweetened coconut milk

Make

Place first six ingredients into a small saucepan and simmer on a low flame for about 7-8 minutes. The monk fruit will melt, the lemon verbena leaves will wilt and the blueberries will thaw and become soupy. Remove from the heat and remove the lemon verbena leaves. Transfer the blue berry mixture to a high speed blender and add the coconut milk. Blend on low for 30-45 seconds. Transfer the mixture to the molds and allow to freeze 12 hours to over night. Enjoy.

If you have type 2 diabetes, omit the maple syrup and cut the blueberries by half.

Recipe developed by Anna Getty of Amalgam Kitchen.

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