Ice pop

An ice pop is a liquid/cream-based frozen dessert on a stick. Unlike ice cream or sorbet, which are whipped while freezing to prevent ice crystal formation, an ice pop is frozen while at rest, becoming a solid block of ice with an icy texture. It is a fusion of flavored liquid, like juice or a sweetened water-based liquid. The stick is used as a handle to hold it. Without a stick, the frozen product would be a freezie. It can be calorie restricted, but commercial options usually contain added sugars, corn syrup and artificial ingredients.

An ice pop is also referred to as a popsicle (a generic trademark) in Canada and the United States, an ice lolly, lollipop or lolly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, an ice block in New Zealand, an icy pole in Australia, an ice drop in the Philippines, an ice gola in India, ice candy in the Philippines, India and Japan, ai tim tang or ice cream tang in Thailand, and a kisko in the Caribbean.

History

As early as 1872, a partnership known as Ross and Robins sold "a frozen-fruit confection on a stick, which they called the Hokey-Pokey." Later, Francis William "Frank" Epperson of Oakland, California, popularized ice pops after patenting the concept of "frozen ice on a stick" in 1923.

Epperson claimed to have first created an ice pop in 1905, at the age of 11, when he accidentally left a glass of powdered lemonade soda and water with a mixing stick in it on his porch during a cold night, a story still printed on the back of Popsicle treat boxes. Epperson lived in Oakland and worked as a lemonade salesman.