robertIt’s that time of year when tea meets ice in a glass (although hot tea is certainly not wholly abandoned in favor of the chilled versions of the beverage). Taking my cues both from this seasonal transitioning to drinking iced tea and the appearance of a wide variety of stone fruit at my local farmers’ markets, I am inspired to create a simple and healthful warm weather dessert. Here’s the gist of it. 

Pick any stone fruit. From deep red sweet cherries, the earliest in season and the smallest of stone fruits, to apricots, which arrive and end in the blink of an eye (look for the Blenheim variety if you can find them), to a dizzying array of plums, peaches, and hybrids, there is a plethora of seasonal fruit to try.

Simply source the most aromatic and ripe fruits, and wash, pit, and puree them until smooth. For some fruits, the skin is best removed before pureeing; press these through a fine sieve and then use, discarding any tough bits of skin or fiber that remain in the sieve. Combine the puree with brewed tea and sugar syrup to taste and you have the makings of a fruity Tea Popsicle (Tea-sicle, anyone?). I like to use two contrasting teas paired with contrasting fruits for a striped popsicle, but you may opt to use only one fruit/one tea if ambition or time runs out. In that case, simply double the quantity of either flavor to create the 8 servings, as shown below. 

As a starting point and matter of personal preference, I like to pair fragrant peaches with equally fragrant Darjeeling tea, plums with Assam, and cherries with green tea, but the possibilities are endless and endlessly delicious. Start with a tea you love and brew it a bit stronger than you might when drinking it as a beverage. Make up a batch of simple syrup (boil equal parts by weight of granulated sugar and water until the sugar dissolves) and let it cool. Store the syrup all summer in the refrigerator for those times when you wish to sweeten a tea for a tall iced drink (you may complex the syrup by adding herbs, such as basil, rosemary, or mint, or strips of lemon peel for a special treat). 

Freeze in popsicle molds or in plastic containers into which you have placed wooden popsicle sticks, held in place by a circle of foil with a slit cut into its center to hold the stick upright until the mixture freezes. When it is frozen, remove the foil, pull the popsicle out of its container, and wrap tightly or bag in a recloseable plastic bag and store frozen until you are ready to enjoy. Note that these are best eaten with a few days of freezing. 

Tea-sicles

Yield: approximately 8 servings

Pluot-Assam Layer

3 pluots, washed, pitted, and then pureed (yielding approximately 7 ounces of fruit puree, sieved)

3 ounces (scant ½ cup) granulated sugar 

3 ounces brewed tea (3 t. tea leaves in approximately 3 ounces of water; brew 3-5 minutes and then decant the liquid, pressing hard on the tea leaves to extract as much of the brewed tea as possible)

Apricot or Aprium-Darjeeling Layer

3 apricots or apriums, washed, pitted, and then pureed (yielding approximately 7 ounces apricot puree, sieved)

3 ounces (scant ½ cup) granulated sugar

3 ounces brewed tea (3 t. tea leaves in approximately 3 ounces of water; brew 3-5 minutes and then decant the liquid, pressing hard on the tea leaves to extract as much of the brewed tea as possible)

For both of the flavors, simply combine the pureed fruit, add the sugar to the tea liquid, and mix until blended; you may wish to process the mixture in a small blender to remove any lumps. Chill the resulting mixtures separately and then freeze as desired in popsicle molds or as directed above. 

Thanks to Lauren Wemischner for the photo.