Pineapple-Rosemary-Cilantro Popsicle

On one of his recent trips, Anand chanced upon an interesting popsicle flavor and recipe included in a tiny section of an airline magazine. He immediately took a picture of it and dutifully showed it to me, requesting that it be made as soon as possible. How convenient for me! :).

But these days, I can’t seem to obediently stick to a given recipe. I am always tempted to add a bit of this and that, and eliminate things that I believe won’t go well together. I was very skeptical of adding a bunch of coriander leaves (cilantro) along with pineapple. I associate cilantro with savory, aromatic dishes and not sweet, fruity dishes. Licking cilantro bits from a popsicle just didn’t fit well with my tiny flavor-related-mental-model. And so, I adapted. I’ve been experimenting with other herbs available on this side of the world, and have recently fallen in love with fresh rosemary and tarragon. Rosemary has a wonderful, lavender-like pleasant fragrance, but it doesn’t make the dish taste/smell flowery. Similarly,  Tarragon has a strong fennel-like note to it, except it is much sweeter and subtle. They are strong, aromatic herbs which go a long way in subtly enhancing the scent and flavor of a dish. A few months back, I had a rosemary-ginger-lemon soda and I swooned over the refreshing flavors! Since I was convinced that these ingredients would play very well with the sweet and tangy pineapple to give a refreshing zing to the popsicle, I added them. But Anand vehemently insisted that I add cilantro and not digress from the original recipe. And so, cilantro went in too - and I am still not in great favor of it! But Anand and other friends loved it, so I guess I’m the minority in this!

Rosemary

 
Ingredients

1. 3 cups of finely diced fresh pineapple
2. ⅓ cup of sugar
3. ½  a teaspoon of salt
4. Juice of half a lemon (or lime)
5. 2 sprigs of cilantro
6. 2 small sprigs of fresh rosemary (remove the leaves from the inedible stem)
7. a pebble-sized piece of ginger

Preparation

1. Add all the ingredients in a blender and pulse, grind, puree until smooth. Do not add any water. If it’ easier, puree the pineapples first and then add the rest of the ingredients and give it a blitz.
2. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 4-5 hours.

 

Pineapple-rosemary-cilantro-ginger popsicle is ready! This might seem odd to many, but it did taste good and the flavors were unique. The only change I would recommend is adding mint leaves instead of cilantro to make the posicle even more refreshing. It will turn into a pineapple-mojito on a stick - without the rum ;).