With my herb garden’s bounty in end-of-summer explosion mode, I’ve been experimenting with ways to preserve my herbs. One delicious mode of experimentation I dove into further last weekend—with excellent results—was freezing herbs by way of popsicle. I encourage you to experiment. You have nothing to lose but maybe some less-than-stellar popsicles as the result of your experimentations (even the ones that come out bad are pretty good). I bought a bunch of fruits, picked a bunch of herbs and had a few kinds of organic yogurt on hand. Here are three of our best combinations (did I mention, these are wholeheartedly kid-approved!).
Strawberry-Balsamic-Basil Popsicles
Mix about one cup of frozen strawberries with about 1/4 cup white sugar or honey and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Mash the mixture up a little bit and let it sit for 10 to 30 minutes. Add a couple large spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt and about 20 basil leaves and mix with a hand blender (or in the blender). Pour into popsicle molds, let freeze for 4 hours and enjoy.
Cherry-Vanilla-Mint Popsicles
First, de-stem and pit about one cup of dark bing cherries. Combine with vanilla yogurt and about 15 mint leaves. We used spearmint, but you could use any. Blend with a hand blender or in the blender. Pour into popsicle molds, let freeze for 4 hours and enjoy.
Basil Lemonade Popsicles
Squeeze the juice from two whole lemons into a blender or the container of a hand blender. Add about 20 basil leaves and a couple heaping spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt. Add about 1/4 cup sugar, then keep adding to taste. Once you’ve achieved the sweetness you want, pour into popsicle molds, freeze for four hours and enjoy.
