Never Bashful with Butter
Otter Pops-
I’ve made it my mission to try and find the perfect popsicle this summer, and in order to do that, I had to go back and relive some old favourites.
Originally, this post was going to be solely about the Otter Pop. My love for the Otter Pop transcends all time and space, and really, a summer without an Otter Pop just isn’t a summer at all, as far as I’m concerned.
It would seem as though most people feel this way, at least in the United States.
Otter Pops have been around forever almost. Though I don’t know exactly when Otter Pops first came out, I do know they were around at least as far back as the 1960s, created as a competing product to Flavor-Ice, which is almost the exact same thing as an otter pop, only available in different flavours.
The Original Otter Pop flavour lineup was as follows-
everbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comr
Sir Isaac Lime
Little Orphan Orange
Strawberry Short Kook
Louie-Bloo Raspberry
Rip Van Lemon
Alexander The Grape
In the mid 70’s, Poncho Punch replaced Rip Van Lemon, but otherwise, the flavours and characters have remained the same.
When I was a kid, I lived off these things. Popsicles were like, my life support during the summer. Even more so were they important before we moved to a house with a swimming pool. Summer time there was an otter pop, a kiddie pool, and a garden hose. No such thing as central air back then. I don’t even think most buildings in the area were air conditioned at that point, let alone houses. We didn’t have a lot of money anyways, so it was the farthest thing from a necessity in our house. Besides, we were kids, and kids are very inventive when it comes to ways to keep cool.
I remember Digging holes. A lot. I know not many kids were allowed to dig holes in their yard, let alone wield a big sharp shovel, to do so. Things were different for us, I think. We grew up digging holes and trenches for plants, so we knew our way around the shed, and the tools inside it. I think originally, my mom didn’t believe me when I said I wanted to dig a hole for swimming in. What harm could come of me digging a few inches, giving up and then doing something else?
I came up with the idea of digging holes for swimming after I learned that I could empty the big plastic oversized pig shaped toy box with water, and soak in that. Digging a hole just made it more interactive, messy, and fun.
Digging swimming holes became a yearly occurance, up until we got a swimming pool. I would dig a few holes if I needed to. Both roughly the size of two people, about 3 or 4 feet deep. I’d take sheets of black plastic or a blue woven tarp, and stick it inside of the hole, using the hose to fill it up, and for a few brief moments, I would remain in clear water. If I had a friend with me, it was even shorter, as sooner than later, one of us would turn to mud flinging as an attempt to satiate our extremely short attention spans.
When I wasn’t digging holes, I was running through the garden over the sprinkler. My mom hated this. I as always messing up her perfect little rows. Finally she bought a second sprinkler, and my sister and I planted it firmly in the center of the yard, and took turns jumping over it.
But most often, it was my sister and I, running around the yard in our underwear, chasing each other with the hose, the chilly water nipping at my heels, whether I was chasing her or not. The object was to hold the water spray so it hit both of you, because the whole purpose was to keep cool. The only down side, we got more bee stings this way than any other.
Of course, growing up with parents who raised bees, the stings were unavoidable. Poor Honey bees don’t know what hits ‘em. All of a sudden there’s this thud and a small child has stepped on you while you’re calmly and coolly collecting your pollen off the dense pockets of honey suckle, neatly tucked amongst various patches of crab grass and other motley greens.
Holding onto any sweet treat made you more of a bee target. The only problem with that, is the bees you most often were stung by, weren’t honey bees. They were Yellow Jackets. Evil little creatures, unlike honey bees who only sting when threatened, because they die after they sting, Yellow Jackets can sting multiple times, AND they can bite. And they’re just mean looking.
I’ve suffered many a yellow jacket sting at the Otter Pop’s behest. Lesson learned, its best to eat the otter pops WHILE being sprayed by the garden hose, and not afterwards. Running around with melted sugar mixture on your body is like waiving a giant target in front of the bees.
The only problem with Otter Pops is that I’m finding I only really enjoy them so long as I’m using them as a nostalgic product. I Love them, don’t get me wrong, its just.. My tastes have matured a bit, and to be completely honest, If I’d never had them as a kid, I’d probably never buy them as a grownup. Also, the older I get, the less I enjoy the flavour. They seem so much more watered down this year than they did last year.
So, to see if it was just me, or maybe a pouch-sicle thing, with the watered down flavour, I found a few other pouch-sicle brands to compare against.
Kool Aid Kool Pops.
Everyone LOVES Koolaid, right?
koolaid was my drink of choice as a kid. Always red. Always fruit punch flavoured.
My sister and I had the great misfortune of contracting chicken pox one summer. My parents had an old school remedy for this.
They locked us into the family car, a big shiny Reliant K- car
, in flannel pajamas, with cloth oven mitts duct taped over our hands. I know this sounds inhumane. It probably is. I can’t be too upset about it though, because it worked. Four hours in the big stuffy car on a hot day, our dad felt bad and came to our rescue about two hours into it with home made koolaid slushies in quart size mason jars. NOTHING felt better than ice cold Koolaid at that point. Nothing.
These are basically just that. Koolaid in a tube, frozen. Infact, they’re actually better if you smush them up a bit before you eat them.
Anyways, so Otter Pops have 6 flavours, and Kool Aid Kool Pops have 4. Thats ok, because they’re all artificially flavoured, so they all taste pretty much the same anyways.
The one thing I like about these pops is that they’re bigger, and they taste more like koolaid when you “accidentally” put too much sugar in them, and not enough water. They’re very sweet, and very flavourful.
I actually enjoyed them much more than the otterpops, and I was totally able to overlook that they claim the blue one was “tropical punch” and that the red one was “blastin berry cherry” because I seriously thought that the blue one was blue raspberry, and the red one was fruit punch. I even had my husband taste them and tell me what flavours he thought they were, and he said the same thing, and he’d never even seen the packaging.
They were really good though, and it was a total bonus that I was able to find them for $1.00 USD for a pack of 24, at Albertsons Grocery. Considering I’d just paid $5.00 USD for the box of 100 OtterPops, which were a little over half the size of the Kool Pops, That was quite a bargain.
Koolaid Kool-Pops-
My favourite is grape, of course.
This next review is probably a regional variety. I don’t know though, because its such a generic name and brand, they could be really popular somewhere else, and I wouldn’t even know it.
Fun Pops.
My first introduction to these was at my mom’s house. My dad was eating one, and my husband remarked on the size of his “Otter Pop”. My dad said it wasn’t an Otter Pop, and my husband mumbled something about them looking like Otter Pops on crack. My dad offered one to my husband and I, and of course, we obliged.
We fell instantly in love with them. In the realm of the Pouch-Sicle, they’re definately the king of all the ones I’ve tried past and present.
They’re about three times the size of an Otter Pop, and they come in more flavours-
Piña colada, blue raspberry, banana, peach, cherry, grape, lemon-lime and orange, to be exact.
My mom bought them at Wal-mart, so they may be widely available. If you’re looking for a cheap, tasty otter pop-esque treat, these are definately the way to go.
Infact, these ones are in liquid form, because we ate all of the ones we had frozen before I could take photos!
So all in all, of these pouch-sicle varieties, I’d choose the latter. Still, I don’t feel I’ve found “the best” popsicle, because really, I’m looking for something a little less high fructose corn syrupy, and a little less artificial flavoury.
More to come, soon. Summer is upon us here in The Pacific Northwest, and there are many popsicles left to be devoured.
-A.