Origin of the Popsicle...

George, Age 4 in " Oakwind."

When asked what tongues are for, Georgie from " Oakwind," unequivocally replies, " For licking Popsicles Cold Confections, silly."  And of course, you are silly if you don't think George is right, at least about Cold confections. I once asked him the winning numbers to the lottery, and he replied with  "Danna, let's play trains."  

Nevertheless, George has an unmatched blood-brotherly connection  with this deliciously good treat. He knows why God created the tongue, and he also knows that like him, cold confections are from Oakland. It has tickled our fancy for quite some time  to know that the birthplace of the " Eppsicle," (later to be called the "Popsicle") is Oakland, CA.  Of course, we are the birthplace of other great people, places, and things: 

-Julia Morgan

-The Black Panthers

-The Wave 

-Gettin' Hyphy 

-MC Hammer, Goapele, Digital Underground and other great musicians... 

-Rocky Road Ice cream and the Mai Tai 

...But the " Popsicle," whodda thunk it?  

The story goes a little something like this: 

At the ripe age of eleven, Frank Epperson left a glass of lemonade outside with a stick in it. Why, there was a stick in his lemonade? The world may never know, but I will point out two things: 1.) He was eleven. 2.) He was an eleven year old boy.  You can file that under, " mystery solved." Anywho,where was I?   Overnight, the lemonade froze  and dear ol' Franky licked the stick and found it to taste good. Twenty something years later, he applied for a patent for something described along the lines of, " a frozen treat on a stick." (Is it just me, or does Franky come off as the overly rational type?)  Later, his children,  with an ounce of creativity,  re-named it the  "Popsicle," and even later still,  the rights were sold to a company in our Sister City named Good Humor. 

The End ? 

No, not really...

106 years later, we're happy to bring  this delicious cold confection back home; so much so, that one of our mainstay flavors, "Peach Lemonade", which was created to be kid friendly and made with: Woodleaf Farm Organic Peaches, Ginger, Meyer Lemons and Organic Cane Sugar is dedicated to the Godfather, himself, Frank Epperson.

P.S. The word " Popsicle," is much like the words " Xerox, Band-aid, Crayon, Q-tip and the newest, Urban Homesteading..."  meaning, don't use them to describe your product, or your pants might be sued right off of your body.

Pop Recipe

Y'all the weather deities have been good to us this month, you should honor them with a  Tangerine Pudding Pop! Guess what? They're vegan, too!

Yields: 6-8, 3 oz Pops.

What you'll need: 

Aland's offering to the Bill Cosby gods...

• 1 Cup Organic Cane Sugar or organic powdered sugar with tapioca cornstarch.
• 1/3 teaspoon Tangerine zest or citrus of your choice( Lime not recommended)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 teaspoon of hydrated saffron (optional) 
• 1 20 oz container of silken tofu (We like Hodo Soy, and you can find it at Berkeley Farmer's Market or at Berkeley Bowl but Mori-Nu Firm Silken works well, too*).
• 3/4 Cup of coconut milk or Earth balance soy free " butter"* works well too.
• 1 Cup of Freshly squeezed Tangerine juice or Citrus of your choice (again, no lime).

Directions: 

In medium saucepan combine coconut milk, cane sugar, tangerine zest, salt, saffron, tangerine juice and vanilla extract.  Whisk and bring to a boil over high heat.  Be quick and reduce your mixture to a simmer, KEEP WHISKING,  and let it simmer for about 45 seconds to a minute.

Pour your mixture into a blender with your tofu and blend until smooth. 

Pour your mixture into a non-metal bowl (acid + metal= not good), cover and toss that bad boy in the fridge for about 1-3 hours. 

Once your mixture has completely cooled, you can pour them into your pop mold and let them freeze for at least 6 hours.

Voila! Enjoy! 

We encourage experiments. Try additional spices that go well with citrus or different citruses, altogether...mmm..how's about Meyer's Lemon or Blood Oranges? The world is your oyster kid! Tell us how they turn out!

* Bryant Terry's " Vegan Soul Kitchen," recommends Mori Nu Silken. 

* If you choose to use the butter, do not boil, just melt it and let the sugar dissolve.

New Pops

Berkeley Farmer's Market

Aland and I have been guilty of  mentioning the word "community," here and there.  We understand that  there's always the risk within the American-English language of negative over-exposure. When  the "here and there" happens without responsibility over one's words, words like: "eco-friendly," "carbon footprint," "epic,"and " awesome" meet the unfortunate fate of over-exposure.  In the same breath, I can use the adjective " awesome," to describe my ability to parallel park (which Aland  would also describe as "awesome-ly terrible"), or Martin Luther King Jr.'s grace to lead a movement that changed American History. The word, " awesome,"  used to mean something and was reserved for truly awe inspiring moments like The Civil Rights Movement, but this is no longer the case.  The word, " community," cannot afford to meet this fate; a way of prevention is to start with honest and true conversations, which are shared from the heart.

These new pops are our conversation shared from the heart.

Aland buying vegan friendly...

Our Community Line of pops is an attempt to not only foster, but  sustain community, regardless of whom your community consists. One of the reasons why we have decided to sell this line exclusively to businesses functioning within a community setting is because we want to increase this line's chance of actually engaging people. Our hope is that while you eat these pops,they will center you around a table and  create opportunity to  start conversations, talk about pleasant childhood memories, new foodie experiences or inspire you in your own form of creating.

At the moment, we are not at liberty to  share everything regarding our new line. However, we do feel it prudent and fair to introduce to you  1  of the 8 new items that  you will be able to find in places around San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley in as early as May. ( Don't worry, we'll introduce the  rest of the New Pop gang very soon).

" Bill Cosby" here, helped himself...

So, without further ado, say hello to our little friend:  Chocolate Puddin' Cabernet. Chocolate Puddin' Cabernet is 100% organic, vegan, and gluten free. It is perfectly balanced and velvety smooth with hints of blackberry, smoke, black pepper, rose petals, currants, and of course, yummy dark chocolate.
It is delicious!