My secret addiction to Fat Frogs
Aisling FitzGibbon
I don't know about you but I love ice pop season. I have a certain nostalgia for ice pops as I associate them with warm sunny days on sandy beaches. Being brought up my mum who was into everything natural and sugar free I only ever received sugar free popsicles and although I liked them I still longed for shop bought ice pops?
One year when my parents were moving house I went to Ireland on holidays on my own. By four I was Miss Independent and had to pretend to be 6 to fly with Aer Lingus to Ireland. I was to stay with my extended Irish family in Kerry. My grandmother Mausie declared me deprived because I had never tasted a Loop the Loop, a Fat Frog or a Mr. Freeze. In a conspiracy conjured by a hoard of aunties I was introduced to these treats one by one. The condition was that I was not to tell my mother. Of course I didn't. I was living the dream of gobbling as many fats frogs as I could before I returned to the UK.
My adult self would not dream of eating such sugar laden treats but I love the taste of natural ice pops. This Summer I plan to make my own. I have bought so many molds down the years and they are either too flimsy or they crack too easily or the stick comes out without the pop and I have to dig into the mold to get at the pop. Very stressful. My aunt Melissa who also had a penchant for fat frogs in her day now has her own children and makes her own sugar free pops. She swears by these molds. I plan to try them out and experiment with some recipes and let you know how they turn out.