Sometimes in the business of discovering new food products, we come across true greatness. That’s how we feel about the gourmet ice pops from The Hyppo in St. Augustine, Florida. They are well worth sending for and will make a memorable gift to any lucky recipient of your largesse.

The brilliance is in not just in the quality, but in the combination of many flavors rarely seen in an ice pop (or in any dessert, for that matter). Your personal palate will prefer some flavors over others, but all are exciting!

The flavors are intense. A simple strawberry pop, for example, will be the most flavorsome strawberry pop you could hope to have, chock full of the most scrumptious strawberries.

We now have a new travel destination: St. Augustine, Florida. The city has many attractions and we will see them all—including, of course, an hour or so of daily tasting at The Hyppo.

After all, the stores (there are two in St. Augustine and others in Gainsville, St. Petersburg, and Tampa) carry some 40 flavors each week!

It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to taste these pops. We know we’ll be a regular customer. We’re already clearing out the freezer to make more space.
 
 
WHY THE HYPPO POPS ARE SO WONDERFUL

The Hyppo uses the freshest fruits—the season’s best, many from local farms on their sunny Florida home turf. There’s no middleman: It’s farm to freezer!

The fruits are not just seasonal and freshly picked; they’re luscious. The pops include all of the conventional frozen dessert flavors (Blood Orange, Blueberry, Coconut, Peach, Mango, Pumpkin, etc.), the less conventional ones (Kiwi, Persimmon, Prickly Pear, Starfruit), and those rarely seen north of the sub-tropics (Dragonfruit, Guanabana, Mamey [sapote], Sapodilla).

There are so many creative flavor combinations, and the wholes are truly greater than the sum of their parts.

With one of our first bites, the bright flavor of fresh-off-the-tree Key lime juice simply burst from a Cherry Key Lime pop, along with succulent cherries. We were hooked!

There are hundreds of these duos, and some trios. Just a few: Blackberry Clove, Cucumber Lemon Mint, Kale Apple Cucumber, Pear Prosecco Mascarpone, Red Chile Cantaloupe, Strawberry Basil, Watermelon Jalapeño Margarita.

And yes, there are more familiar combinations: Banana Chocolate, Blueberry Greek Yogurt, Caramel Apple, Coconut Chocolate Chip, Guava Mango, Maple Walnut.

But for people who only want a simple flavor: pick a “plain” pop in Apricot, Pineapple, Pink Grapefruit, Raspberry, and numerous others in the lineup.

Are you overwhelmed yet? Skip to the online store, or continue to the next section.
 
 
OMG: 500 FLAVORS!

While the company claims more than 500 flavors, the 210 flavors that are listed on the website are themselves awe-inspiring: How can one get to taste them all?

They’re seasonal flavors but even so: Divide 210 by the four seasons and you’ve still got 50 flavors per season.

That means that there’s always something new and exciting to try.

Imagine if you lived near The Hyppo in Florida, where each of the stores has between 30-40 different flavors in stock at a time. You could have a different pop every day of the month!

Don’t be daunted if the choices seem overwhelming: There are “only” 26 flavors from which to choose in the online store.

You have to look at all the flavors to get an idea of the riches-on-a-stick, but a couple of examples:

 
You get the picture; and what a heavenly picture it is!

All flavors are made in limited quantities, “while supplies last.”
 
 
OUR FAVORITES

Our first shipment included 10 pops, which spanned a spectrum from Blackberry Goat Cheese to Pineapple Cilantro. All were winners.

We were asked to pick a favorite. Truth to tell, two flavors blew us away to the point where there were tears (almost) when the last bite was gone.

The seduction of the Strawberry Cheesecake pop—even better than a slice of strawberry cheesecake—and the Horchata, its cinnamon lingering on our palate long after the pop was devoured—drove us to ecstasy (well, ice cream ecstasy). The dairy-lover in us was overwhelmed by the creaminess of these pops.

We’d never seen sherbet-style pops before, with dairy ingredients that make them so smooth, creamy, and rich.

Which brings us to Food 101: a bit of food education.
 
 
SHERBET VS. SORBET

Some of the flavors are dairy-free (think sorbet), others have dairy added (think sherbet).

When dairy is added, it is no longer technically an “ice” pop. The difference:

 
 
HOW THE HYPPO GOT ITS NAME

Do not expect an adorable hippopotamus logo: The name of this brand has nothing to do with animals.

Rather, it pays homage to The Hyppo’s hometown, Saint Augustine, Florida. The town was named St. Augustine because the location was first sighted by a Spanish expedition on the day of the Feast of Saint Augustine of Hippo*.

Thus, the company is named after the city’s patron saint. Whether St. Augustine ever met a hippo during his residence in Africa, we’ll likely never know.

More hippo: The flagship store sits on Hypolita Street†, so founder Stephen DiMare named the company Hyppo with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i.’
 
 
GET YOUR POPS FROM THE HYPPO

Head to the website.

The online store is here.

Also check out:

> The different types of frozen desserts.

> The history of sorbet.

> The history of ice cream.
 
 
HOW ABOUT AN ICE POP COCKTAIL?

Make a Strawberry Mint Moscow Mule with fresh strawberries and mint, and combine it with a strawberry ice pop (photo #7). Use the pop as a stirrer and as a bite between sips.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

[1] Most of the pops are dual flavors. Here, strawberry is combined with datil, a very hot chile pepper grown in the St. Augustine area. The freshest fruits are a collaboration with local farms (all photo © The Hyppo).

[2] There are more than 500 wonderful flavors. Here are half of them.

[3] Fall is coming. Look out for Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie, or Pumpkin Stout pops.

[4] In The Hyppo stores, customers can have their pops dipped in chocolate. You can do it at home. Here’s how to do it at home.

[5] An example of clever flavor combinations: cantaloupe and black pepper.

[6] A trio of flavors: Blueberry Lavender Lemonade.

[7] Toasted Coconut.

[8] Use the pops to make “poptails,” dipping them in a cocktail. See the recipe at the left.

1. ADD the strawberry halves and mint leaves to a glass and muddle until the berries are broken down into smaller pieces.

2. ADD the ice, vodka, and lime juice, and top with ginger beer. Stir using an ice pop (or a conventional stirrer+ to mix well.

3. PLACE the pop straight up in the glass, or across the top. Serve immediately.

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*Saint Augustine of Hippo was a theologian, philosopher, and bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia in Roman North Africa (Hippo Regius is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, Algeria). a threat to the Spanish fleets that sailed the Gulf Stream beside the east coast of Florida, carrying treasure from Central and South America to Spain. A fleet commanded by Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived at the location on September 8, 1565. With 600 voyagers cheering, Menéndez set foot on the shores of Florida. In honor of the saint whose feast day fell on the day he first sighted land, Menéndez named the colonial settlement St. Augustine. Here’s more about it.

†Hypollita with a double “p” was the queen of the Amazons given in marriage to Theseus by Hercules./span>
 
 

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[1] A bowl of lemons can brighten a table or kitchen counter (photo © Justin Schwartfigure | Unsplash).

[2] The parts of a lemon. Thanks to Lemons From Spain for this information (image © The Lemonage).

[3] Before lemons ripen into their bright yellow color, they look green like lilmes (photo © Chandra Oh | Unsplash).

[4] Add sliced lemons to a pitcheror glass of waterto make lemon water (photo © Julia Zolotova | Unsplash).

August 29th is National Lemon Juice Day. Let’s give the lemon some respect: It doesn’t even have its own holiday. Just the juice does.

So it’s time to discover what’s under the peel besides pulp and juice. A number of different things to do with the juice itself is below.
 
> The different types of lemons.

> The history of the lemon.
 
 
LEMONS 101: THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE LEMON

The lemon is a member of the Citrus genus of flowering trees and shrubs, in the Rutaceae family.

In addition to lemons, members of the Citrus genus include familiar citrus fruits such as citrons, grapefruits, kumquats, limes, mandarins, oranges, and pomelos, as well as less-familiar citrus fruits such as Buddha’s hand, finger limes, and kaffir limes.

The Citrus genus is native to South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia. Lemons are thought to have originated in northwestern India.

Here’s how a botanist looks at a lemon (photo #2). Instead of presenting the parts in alphabetical order, we’ll start at the rind and work our way inside.
 
 
FLAVEDO (the peel layer, also called the rind or epicarp)

Ranging from green to bright yellow in color depending on the level of ripeness, the flavedo contains essential oil glands that provide the lemon’s aroma. The flavedo is an important source of vitamin C, polymethoxyflavones and carotenoids—both cancer-fighting flavenoid antioxidants.
 
 
ALBEDO (also called the pith or mesocarp)

Immediately under the flavedo (rind) is the white, spongy inner layer of the lemon. It’s the most important source of pectin and carbohydrates.

The albedo is also an important source of phenolics and flavanones, both antioxidants.
 
 
ENDOCARP (the pulp)

The endocarp, or pulp, is the edible part* of the lemon rind, representing between 65% and 70% of the lemon’s weight. It’s pale yellow in color and is divided into segments that contain elongated cells—known as the juice sacs or vesicles—where water, carbohydrates, and citric acid accumulate.

Each slice of lemon contains hundreds of juice sacs, and there may be one or more seeds. In the aggregate, the juice sacs make up the pulp.
 
 
COLUMELA & MEMBRANES

The columela is the central axis that connects the membranes that form between the sections of the endocarp. The membranes separate the fruit segments and help to hold the pieces of pulp together. The texture is thin and papery; depending on the variety, it can be thinner or thicker.
 
 
WHAT’S A HESPEREDIUM?

A hesperidium (plural hesperidia) is a fruit with sectioned pulp inside a separable rind, e.g. in a lemon, orange, grapefruit, or another citrus.

Carl Linnaeus (1707 to 1778, also known as Carl von Linné), “the father of modern taxonomy,” was the great Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalized binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms.

He gave the name Hesperideae to the order containing the genus Citrus, in allusion to the golden apples of the Hesperides†. [source]
 
 
THINGS TO DO WITH LEMON JUICE

Now that you have a botanist’s perspective on lemons, here are uses for lemon juice. After all, it’s National Lemon Juice Day!

________________

•The flavedo, or peel, is also eaten: as grated zest, as cocktail garnishes, and cut into strips and turned into candied peel, which is enjoyed as a garnish or as a confection, eaten plain or dipped in chocolate.

†The Golden Apples in the Garden of Hesperides were a wedding gift to Hera from Gaia and were protected by a great serpent called Ladon. The Apples as well as the rest of the life in the Garden were tended by the Hesperides, minor earth goddesses or nymphs and daughters of the Titan, Atlas. Herakles (Heracles) was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides as one of his twelve labors.

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Updated August 2026

Red wine lovers: August 28th is National Red Wine Day. There are many different types of red wine made around the world. With more than a thousand varieties of wine grapes grown, that’s no surprise.

Today, we’ll highlight all of the red wines widely available in the U.S. and give you some “food homework”: Try a varietal you’ve never had before.

Varietal refers to the type of grape used in making wine. Examples of familiar red varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel.

In much of the world, wines are sold by their varietal names.

In France and some other countries, the wines are known by their place names. Thus:

 
Your food homework assignment: Try at least one of these wines that you’ve never had before.

Ready, set, go!

Below:

> Red grape varietals.

> Popular red wines by origin.

> Sweet red wines.

> Food pairings with sweet red wines.

> The year’s 45+ red wine holidays.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The year’s 40+ white wine holidays.

> A brief history of wine.
 

[7] Harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, just 30-45 minutes from downtown Seattle (photo © Chateau Ste. Michelle).
 
 
1. RED GRAPE VARIETALS

We start with some well-known red wine varietals that you’ll find in stores labeled with their varietal names. These grapes are grown worldwide, but we’ve included the county of origin.

A quick note on wine variety vs. wine varietal:

 
strong>The Most Popular Red Grape Varietals

 
 
2. POPULAR RED WINES BY ORIGIN

In addition to purchasing varietal wines, you can purchase wines made with those same grapes that are labeled by their place of origin. These places are regions or smaller communes that have strict regulations as to what grapes can be used, the growing locales of those grapes, and how the wine is made.

Examples include:

[1] Beaujolais, made from the Gamay grape, is one of the lightest of the red wines. Here it’s seen in a glass that’s specially crafted to show off its flavors and aromas (photo © Schott Zwiesel).

[2] Pinot Noir in a glass designed to enhance its flavors and aromas (photo © Crate & Barrel).

[3] Zinfandel with chocolate truffles (photo © Stella Rosa Wines).

[4] Cabernet Sauvignon with blue cheese, figs, walnuts, and grapes (photo © Alex9500 | Panther Media).

[5] Taylor Tawny Port 20 Years, delicious with cheese, dessert, or an after-dinner wine (photo © The Nibble).

[6] Serve Madeira wine with nibbles such as olives, with salads tossed with a tangy dressing, with sushi or smoked salmon, with sheep’s and goat’s milk cheeses, and with desserts such as apple tarts and other fruity pastries (photo © The Nibble).

Also try a sweet red wine, if you don’t already drink them. They can be made from any grapes, and are delicious with cheese, as dessert wines or after-dinner wines.
 
Fortified Red Wines

These three are fortified wines, meaning that the wine has a distilled spirit, usually, brandy, added to it.

The purpose of adding the spirit is to increase its alcohol content and preserve its longevity.

 
Other Sweet Red Wines

 
 
4. FOOD PAIRINGS WITH SWEET RED WINES

________________

*Varietal wines: The federal standard requires at least 75% of the wine to be made from the named varietal. Oregon generally requires 90% of the named variety, although the state makes an exception for a group of traditionally blended grapes—including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, Malbec, and others—which may be labeled at the federal 75% level. For American native grape varieties such as Concord or Catawba, the federal minimum is 51% rather than 75%.

However, the grape-variety rule is different from the geographic-origin rule. A wine labeled “California Cabernet Sauvignon” needs at least 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and at least 75% of its grapes from California. A wine labeled with an AVA, such as “Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon,” must have at least 85% of its grapes from Napa Valley, while the named-grape threshold remains 75%. (AVA stands for American Viticultural Area, which is an official, federally approved wine grape-growing region in the U.S.

**There are three rosé holidays. National Rosé Day, the second Saturday in June holiday was founded in 2014 by Bodvár House of Rosés, a Swedish brand, as a U.S.-focused promotional holiday. The fourth Friday in June, International Rosé Day, was established in 2018 by the Provence wine region in France, which is essentially the global home of rosé. February 5th is celebrated as New Zealand (and Australia) National Rosé Day.

Most rosé wines are made from red grapes, because the color comes from brief contact with the grape skins, which contain the pigments. The longer the skin contact, the deeper the color. White grapes alone generally cannot produce a pink wine; they lack the red pigments found in red-grape skins. The grape varieties comomnly used for rosé include Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Syrah, and Tempranillo. Rosé can also be produced by blending red and white wine, a method permitted for some wines, notably rosé Champagnes; and by pressing red and white grapes together, which is done to make German Rotling.

†Super Tuscans and Chiantis are both types of red wine made in Tuscany. The difference between a Super Tuscan wine and Chianti is D.O.C. status. For a wine to be labeled as Chianti D.O.C., it must be made from at least 80% Sangiovese grapes that are grown in one of the approved Chianti areas that lay between the cities of Florence, Sienna, and Arezzo.

Super Tuscans don’t follow the strict rules of the Chianti appellation. They can be made entirely from Sangiovese or can include or be made entirely from French grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah.

Super Tuscans are labeled I.G.T. (Indicazione Geografica Tipica), a designation that was created in 2013 that indicates a lower quality level. This does not mean, however, that Super Tuscans are cheaper than Chiantis. Quite the opposite is true: even the best Chiantis do not usually reach the high prices commanded by the top Super Tuscans. Toscana I.G.T. simply refers to wines not covered by the various D.O.C., D.O.C.G., or other designations in the region of Tuscany. Here’s more about them.

††Maratheftiko is a rare and prestigious indigenous red wine grape from Cyprus, also known locally as Aloupostafylo, Mavrosportiko, Pampakia, Vamvakada, and Vamvakina. Known for a deep red color and a full body, it typically features aromas of wild berries, cherries, blackberries, and florals like violets and roses, balanced by crisp acidity and rich tannins. Unlike other grapes, it cannot self-pollinate and must be planted alongside other grape varieties for pollination. This process often results in millerandage, where grape bunches contain berries of mixed sizes and ripeness.

†††Prokupac is a red Serbian wine grape that produced high quality red wine, modern rosé types and less frequently, a traditional darkly colored rosé.

††††Mavrud is a red wine grape indigenous to the Balkans. It’s used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines.

†††††Xinomavro is a Greek grape and red wine made from it. Xinomavro from the Naousa region of Central Macedonia has become one of Greece’s most important and well regarded wines (it’s now planted in China and elsewhere). The Naousa Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) was established in 1971.

‡Vranec is a red grape variety that originated in Montenegro. It is the most planted grape variety in Montenegro, a small country in the Balkans. The country between Bosnia and Herzegovina on the North, Albania on the South, Serbia on the East, and the Adriatic Sea on the West. The grape is also grown in Dalmatia (in Croatia), Herzegovina, tge Republic of of Kosovo, the Republic Of North Macedonia, and south Serbia. Here’s more about it.

‡‡Buckfast is a fortified red wine that is mixed with pure caffeine and other tonic ingredients, giving it a reddish-brown color and a high alcohol content of 15% ABV. It is a sweet, syrupy tonic wine created by Benedictine monks in the 19th century at the Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England. It was originally sold in as a medicine. Today, its unique taste and reputation as a tonic has an international following. Here’s more about it.

‡‡‡Sweet vermouth can be sipped straight, but it’s often too sweet for most people. It’s mostly used for cocktails, pairing well with Bourbon, Dark Rum, Rye, and Scotch. Classic cocktails that use sweet vermouth include the Manhattan, Negroni, and Rob Roy.
 
 

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