Sour Watermelon Ice Pops

Summer is here! With Summer comes two things. One I dislike which is the Heat. :( The other which I adore is watermelon season! (YAY!) This recipe came into being on a hot summer day years ago when I was inspired by Bhawya's HOMEMADE SOUR PATCH WATERMELON instructable. I had ordered way to much citric acid online and finally it had arrived unfortunately so had a heat wave. *pause for dramatic effect* Well there was no way I was turning on my stove top to boil anything that was for sure. So gummies were out of the question. However I still wanted to sate my desires for sour watermelony goodness. Inspiration struck and sour watermelon ice pops were born. These ice pops only have two ingredients and have no added sugar! So if you want to beat the heat with some tart frozen treats read on.

Tools

• Blender with tamping stick (or wooden spoon)
• Cutting board
• Large knife
• 1/4 teaspoon or metric equivalent measuring spoon!
• Ice pop or Popsicle molds
• A freezer with enough space for your molds
• A pint glass if you have molds like mine

Ingredients

• Watermelon
• Citric Acid( I got way too much but it doesn't go bad so...)

Unless you have a really really big blender you are going to need to chop your watermelon up into small enough bits to fit in your blender. To chop my watermelon down I start by splitting the watermelon in half. This makes it a more manageable size and gives it a wide flat surface to sit on so I don't have to deal with it moving around as I chop it up. With it cut in half I trim a bit off the top so I can see where the rind stops and the watermelon meat begins. At this point I slide my knife along the line of the rind down the side of the melon leaving behind the tasty watermelon meat. I then rotate and repeat till I have a naked melon. Next I cut the melon into about six evenly thick sections. I then divide the melon into two halves and cut another set of slices to end up with what are now long watermelon sticks. Finally I cut the watermelon sticks to end up with some roughly sized watermelon cubes. Feel free to snitch some watermelon cubes as you are working because we won't come close to needing them all.

Now that you have a bowl full of tasty watermelon cubes it is time to make some sour watermelon slurry. My ice pop molds take about 2 cups(.5 liters) of watermelon slurry to fill which I find takes about 3.5 cups of cubes. If you make too much you can always add an ice cube and have a fine beverage while waiting for the freezer to work its magic so don't worry to much about exactness. If you just throw the cubes in there and try and blend them the blender blades will carve themselves a nice little path and do not much else. This is where your tamping rod comes into play. Go ahead and give the watermelons a good squishing. Once the watermelon starts blending without your persuasive poking its time to add the citric acid. I add the citric acid a little at a time till I get the right amount of tartness. I have found a ratio of 1.25 tsp(7g) to 2 cups(.5 L) of slurry gets me a pleasant amount of tartness. The amount varies based on how sweet the watermelon you start with is so I just add the citric acid 1/4 tsp at a time, tasting after each addition until I find the perfect tartness for that watermelon. Now it is time to take your sour watermelon slurry to sour ice pop glory.

At this point all that is left is to pour the sour watermelon slurry into the molds and pop them in the freezer. This might have been the hardest part of this project for me as finding room in my freezer is an adventure all its own.(If you have molds like mine I highly recommend putting them in pint glasses like I have. It prevents messy freezer leaks if you've over filled the molds and keeps their from being air pockets along the side of your ice pop.) My freezer takes about 2 to 3 hours to freeze my ice pops your time will vary. Once they are frozen enjoy them at your leisure. Thanks for taking the time to read my instructable. If you happen to end up making some sour watermelon ice pops for you and yours let me know what you thought.