WATERMELON ICE POPS WITH LIME

This post is a part of Sprig & Vine’s #100daysofSummer program: your warm weather guide to eat well, drink up, cool down, and chill out. Expect easy breezy recipes, hydration 101, wellness tips, and healthy living ideas all summer long.

Watermelon is such a summer essential. It’s sweet but not sickeningly so, refreshing — especially when chilled, and it’s full of water which means it’s a great way to keep yourself hydrated!

Whether you like to eat chilled slices of watermelon as a snack on hot summer days, or use it up in other recipes like watermelon gazpacho; a quick salad with watermelon cubes, crumbled feta cheese and mint drizzled with balsamic vinegar; or these easy ice-pops; there’s no denying how versatile this summer melon is!

These watermelon ice pops are the perfect summer snack or dessert, and is a great way to cool down in the afternoons — especially for kids as it’s really low on sugar (mostly natural sugar), but still gives you the joy of enjoying a treat! On it’s own too, watermelon juice makes a great popsicle, but I find that adding some lime juice and zest really makes the flavour, uhm, pop. Ha ha.

I used gandhraj lebu which is popular here in Kolkata, for it’s intense flavour, gorgeous fragrance, and is also easy to zest. It’s a match made in heaven with watermelon (and also, pasta)! If you can’t lay your hands on gandhraj, use regular lime or lemon. You can also add mint leaves, which goes really well with this too.

Serve it just as it is, or with a sprinkle of chilli and sea salt (trust me, it’s yum!) Alternatively, you can also serve these watermelon ice pops in a glass with a mojito as a boozy take for the adults – watermelon mojito anyone?

WATERMELON LIME ICE POPS

Serves: 6 ice pops

INGREDIENTS

3-4 cups diced and deseeded watermelon
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon lime zest
A couple of tablespoons simple syrup (optional)
To serve: a mix of sea salt and chilli powder

INSTRUCTIONS

Blend the watermelon with the lime juice, zest, and a few tablespoons of the simple syrup until smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness as it will depend on your melon.
Pour into ice pop molds. You can also add fresh mint leaves and lemon slices (for decoration like I did) at this point.
The molds I use has a lid with slits to hold the popsicle sticks in place, but if you don’t have molds you can also make these in paper cups (let them freeze for an hour before you insert the sticks so that they stay in place).
Freeze for 8 hours or overnight. To release the pops from the mold, run it under tap water and remove from mold. Serve as it is, or with a sprinkle of sea salt and chilli!

*Note:

To make 1 cup simple syrup: Take 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water and gently heat over a medium flame until all of the sugar has dissolved. Take care to not burn the sugar or let it change color.