Pineapple Paletas

Happy First Day  of Summer!

With summer produce at it peak sweetness, why buy supermarket pops when you can make your own?  It is as easy as pureeing fruit, balancing it with sugar and a little citrus, and freezing it in a mold.  This recipe comes from the June 2011 issue of Bon Appetit.  The recipe that we chose first to try was the Pineapple Paletas… Mexican-style pops that are loaded with pieces of fresh fruit.  Luckily, I had some old Tupperware molds for pops.  I could only find one of the plastic tops, so I just covered the other molds with aluminum foil then poked the popsicle stick through the foil and placed them in the freezer.  A few hours later, we had delicious pineapple pops.  When my peaches are ripe, we are trying the Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops!  Enjoy!

Pineapple Paletas
Ingredients
3/4 c. sugar
4 cups (about 1 1/2 lb.) finely diced fresh pineapple, divided
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Directions
1. Bring sugar and 1 cup water to boil in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Chill syrup until cold, about 1 hour.
2. Puree syrup and 2 cups pineapple in a food processor until smooth.  Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium pitcher;  strain, pressing on solids to extract puree.  Stir in lime juice and remaining 2 cups pineapple.  Divide among molds.  Cover;  insert ice-pop sticks.  Freeze until firm.  Dip bottoms of molds into hot water for 20-30 seconds to loosen pops.  Remove pops and serve.

Yield: 8-10 pops
Bon Appetit, June 2011