Thursday, December 10, 2009

Popsicle discoveries


I tried to make jello popsicles today, trying to recreate those "slow-melt" popsicles (secret ingredient--gelatin!), but the sticks came right out. Managed to extract one, stickless, and distributed forkfuls to delighted kids. Anyone got a better recipe than 1 box jello, 2 cups boiling water, 1/2 c sugar and freeze? :) Left them in for more than 24 hours, but they didn't seem to freeze very hard. Chemists?


On another popsicle note, I was looking up "popcorn" in our ASL dictionary as I was making it, and came across "popsicle" on the same page. And the sign is (drumroll) exactly the same sign James made up for it! Interesting how often this happens.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i couldn't resist your chemistry challenge, especially since gelatin really ought to fall within my purview as a media prep technician. :)

i found a couple recipes that looked interesting: one for organic homemade popsicles at greenbabyguide.com, and another for homemade bomb pops at seriouseats.com.

also check out a concise, interesting discussion of food stabilizers by uncle phaedrus, including gelatin (or food-grade agar for vegetarians).

i can't think what might've gone wrong--if anything--with your recipe, since everything seems to be present in the right proportions. my frequent experience is that experiments go awry due to inadequate mixing, so be sure to pay particular attention to the dissolution and blending steps. but all the recipes i found admit that the results are a little softer than popsicles without gelatin--actually a virtue, if not overly soft.

anyway, good luck! and let us know how it goes.