These do-it-yourself elderberry popsicles are healthier than your average store bought popsicles, and loaded with lots of antioxidant and immune boosting ingredients! I find they come in handy whenever one of my munchkins are feeling a little bit down. Whether it’s simply their mood or they’re suffering from physical sickness like a cold and sore throat, soothing homemade elderberry popsicles never fail to bring a smile! This is especially true of my little preschooler! The season doesn’t matter with her. Leave it to a kid to enjoy popsicles no matter how cold the temperature is outside! 🙂

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(By the way for all you elderberry fans out there, make sure and check out this cool shirt I found on Amazon!)

Here is another healthy way for your family to enjoy the health benefits of elderberry without adding all the sugar found in a syrup! Simply make your decoction ahead of time and enjoy these honey sweetened mixed berry popsicles for a soothing nutritious treat. Loaded with nutrition, like antioxidants, iron and protein, these power-packed popsicles are an easy to eat, cool and soothing snack that tastes great. Whether for pampering an irritated sore throat, or simply as a refreshing healthy treat, these flavorful elderberry popsicles are fantastic! The honey adds enzymes, vitamin B complex and minerals like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. (But please remember that an infant’s intestines are not capable of handling the same onslaught of bacteria that adults can. Therefore it is recommended that children under one do not eat honey because of the chance that it may contain Clostridium botulinum.)

Finally, these nutrition-loaded mixed berry popsicles are thickened with gelatin rather than the various gums commonly used to thicken commercial fruit popsicles. This makes these antioxidant-rich treats accessible to those with legume allergies or sensitivities to xanthan gum, guar gum and locus bean gum.

Before you get started with your popsicle making adventure, let’s first take a minute to talk about popsicle molds. Using a good quality mold can make all the difference in both your enjoyment of making popsicles and your finished product. My mother’s popsicle molds were plastic with hard to seal lids that were guaranteed to spill a quarter of the liquid before you finally managed to snap on the lid. This left large hollow spots at the base of the popsicle and made for difficulty eating the entire popsicle. Too often you could only enjoy the top of these relatively small popsicles before you were forced to eat the bottom ice-cube style out of a dish.

Their other draw back was the reusable plastic stick. These got chewed on quite early on in the life of the molds by younger siblings, visiting cousins and little guests, ultimately making the popsicles far less appealing for the next user of that mold! To avoid this problem, I learned from a young age to make my own mold using a cup with either a spoon or wooden stick stuck in it. It was a creative idea, but not without its faults. While a standard plastic drinking cup worked, it was hard to remove the popsicle. Using a new disposable cup each time was wasteful and in any style, it is definitely not very practical to have the freezer filled with open cups of liquid!

Over the years, I have experimented with several more styles of plastic popsicle molds. From stand alone single cups to trays of individual molds, I’ll admit that none are quite as frustrating as my mother’s old molds, but the same issues still remain. Since my children and their cousins love popsicles and making them is still the most effective way to get large quantities of nutritious healthy popsicles at a workable price, I set off on a quest to find a better popsicle mold.

I considered metal molds. They are durable and last forever if taken care of, but can stick to eager wet fingers if removed from the freezer by impatient children. I am not a fan of aluminum cookware, and the high-quality stainless steel models are very pricey for most families, especially if you are making popsicles for a birthday party or a family reunion! The other downside of a metal popsicle mold is they can limit your recipe options. Acidic recipes, like those containing kombucha, cannot be made in aluminum molds and some people are even hesitant to make these recipes in stainless steel popsicle molds.

This brings us to my favorite option, and one that I find the most practical for the average family: the silicon mold. They are lower in cost while still being durable, and lasting for years of repeated use. I find silicon molds release the popsicles with comparable ease to other styles. A quick dip in warm water or even just the warmth of your hand, if you wish to only remove one at a time, is all it takes to remove them. A good quality silicone mold is sturdy enough to stand on its own and will also hold the popsicle sticks tightly in place. The mold I used in this post is unique compared to most homemade popsicle molds in that it uses wooden popsicle sticks. Considering my childhood experiences, this feature was a definite plus. (Yay, no old unappealing pre-chewed plastic ones!) The wooden sticks are also a bonus for the kid-at-heart crowd as most plastic handled pops are hard for an adult to comfortably hold. I also appreciate the large “standard fruit popsicle” shape. I purchased it from Amazon and the mold comes with a decent amount of wooden sticks as well as popsicle bags so you can build up a stash in your freezer for your little popsicle monster! It also comes with a handy collapsible silicon funnel for ease of filing. One final detail, my daughter really loves it’s bright cherry red color!

Once you have obtained a popsicle mold that fits your personal taste, the next step is to measure the molds capacity. Fill a single empty popsicle mold up with water and carefully pour the liquid into a measuring cup. This will tell you the volume of each popsicle. Now multiply that by the number of popsicles the mold makes to get your total volume. This recipe is geared to the above mentioned heavy-duty silicon mold which makes 10 popsicles holds a total volume of 1 quart. My kids really like the large size of this mold, as apposed to my other silicon mold that holds less than ¼ cup per popsicle with a total volume of ¾ cup! For those using plastic molds, I measured three different styles of plastic molds. The capacity of all three styles was consistent, with each popsicle holding 1/3 of a cup. If using molds of this slightly smaller size, this recipes will make 12 popsicles.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen berries of your choice
1 cup elderberry decoction (Recipe found HERE.)
1 handful fresh spinach leaves
2 heaping tablespoons of raw honey
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
¾ to 1 cup of no sugar added Mixed Berry juice blend*
1 package (1 Tablespoon) Knox Gelatin**

*Note: A range for the juice is given because the juiciness of the type of frozen berries you choose to use will affect the amount of juice you need to add.

**Note: I am not affiliated with this company. My mother preferred this brand, and after trying other brands, I feel is better quality then most other mainstream gelatins on the market. Unless of course you are able to afford a high grade organic grass-fed beef gelatin. 🙂

Now it’s time to have some fun and assemble your frozen mixed berry treats!
Place ¾ cup of juice into a small bowl. Sprinkle your gelatin over the juice and let it bloom for about 5 minutes. Once the gelatin has bloomed (softened and swelled up), simply combine all your ingredients into a high quality blender. I have a Nija Foodi Hot and Cold my husband got me that I absolutely LOVE! (You can check it out HERE!)

Blend until smooth. Then carefully pour the mixture into the mold. I set this mold in several places in my refrigerator and found it to be sturdy on both racks and shelves. But for ease of transfer and to prevent spillage for those with little helpers, feel free to place a pan or freeze-proof tray under the mold before filling.

Place on your top and add the popsicle sticks. (With this particular mold, the top just sits on top, so keep in mind it will leak if tipped.)

Next, its time to freeze! Ordinarily, you will want to let your elderberry popsicles have anywhere from 6-8 hours to freeze solid. This step, I find, is the hardest for my kids, but helps in teaching them patience! 🙂 Side note: the colder your freezer is and the quicker your popsicles freeze, the better your final product will be. So keep this in mind when choosing where in the freezer to place your treats.

Once your mixed berry popsicles are frozen solid, it’s time to unmold them. Some people find this step to be a little frustrating, but with this easy trick, it can be a simple and easy process. The quickest and most effective way to unmold your popsicles is to simply dip the mold into a small bowl of warm water for about 6-10 seconds. (The time depends on your version of “warm.” 🙂

Please note, like grape-juice, elderberry will stain surfaces. So keep in mind the potential for drips on clothing, furniture, bedding and carpeting when your family is enjoying these fantastic and healthy popsicles.

Feel free to explore and expand on our recipe by trying other juice and berry flavor combinations. “Mold” popsicles to your own or that special loved one’s personal taste. Let your imagination and creativity soar! (Right now, I’m currently working on a dairy-free creamy tropical ginger popsicle recipe for this summer!) Remember, when it comes to making popsicles, the freezer’s the limit!

Looking for more healthy snacks made from elderberries? Be sure and check out our Elderberry Finger Jello recipe!

Enjoying creativity in the kitchen, the Homesteading Hen

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