July 20th is National Lollipop Day.

It’s easy to make lollipops at home if you have candy molds and sticks.

The molds are inexpensive, and the same molds can be used for chocolate.

Then, just mix corn syrup, sugar, flavor and color and you’ve got pops.

Molds are available with swirly designs, flower, stars, hearts, smiley faces and holiday themes.

In a half hour, a dozen (or more, as you wish) lollipops will be cooling in their molds, almost ready to eat!
 
 
RECIPE: LOLLIPOPS

You can make clear lollipops (no added color) with inclusions like glitter, nonpareils, sprinkles, even edible flowers.

With colored pops, match the color to the flavor: red/cinnamon, green/lime, yellow/lemon, etc.

Make one flavor at a time.

TIP: Test your candy thermometer before each use by bringing water to a boil. The thermometer should read 212°F. Adjust your recipe temperature up or down based on your thermometer reading.

Ingredients For 12 Standard Size Lollipops

 
Preparation

1. SPRAY the molds lightly with nonstick cooking spray, then wipe with a paper towel so that only the thinnest layer of spray remains.

2. PLACE the lollipop sticks in the candy molds; set aside.

3. COMBINE the corn syrup, sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally and brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. Cover and cook for 3 minutes to dissolve the sugar crystals.

4. UNCOVER and cook over medium-high heat, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300°F (hard-crack stage).

5. REMOVE from the heat and let the mixture sit until it completely stops bubbling. Then stir in the flavoring and food coloring. Be sure to turn your face away from the pot since the odor is very strong.

6. IMMEDIATELY pour or spoon into the molds. Let cool before removing from the molds.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF LOLLIPOPS

According to the National Confectioners Association, eating sugar from a stick likely dates to prehistoric man, who licked honey off the stick he used to scrape it from the beehive.

The ancient Arabs, Chinese and Egyptians made fruit and nut confections candied in honey, which may also have been eaten from sticks, owing to the stickiness of the confection.

But what we think of as a lollipop likely dates to Europe in the Middle Ages, when sugar was boiled and formed onto sticks as treats for the wealthy—the only people who could afford sugar.

By the 17th century, sugar was plentiful and affordable. In England, boiled sugar treats (hard candy) were popular.

The word “lollipop” (originally spelled lollypop) first appears in print in 1784, roughly coinciding with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Beginning in the latter part of the 18th century, industry, including confectionery, became mechanized (although artisan confectioners remained).

Horehound drops, lemon drops, peppermints and wintergreen lozenges became everyday candies.

We don’t know the inventor of the modern lollipop: who first put hard candy on a stick.

George Smith, a confectioner in New Haven, Connecticut, had been manufacturing hard candy disks on a stick since 1908, as had other confectioners. But Smith trademarked the term in 1931.

The first automated lollipop machine was invented in Racine, Wisconsin in 1908, producing 2400 lollipops per hour, 57,000 per day. Today’s machines can produce 3 million lollipops daily.

Today’s lollipops come in all shapes and sizes, from hand-crafted works of sugar art to caffeinated Java Pops and bacon lollipops.
 
 
> The history of candy.

[1] You can make these with simple silicone lollipop molds (photo © Taste Of Home).

[2] After you’re comfortable making lollipops, express yourself with flowers, edible glitter, whatever (photo © L3rq0ry | Pixabay).

[3] Making heart-shaped pops (photo © Freepik).

[4] There are shapes for every occasion (photo © Roman Odintsov | Pexels).

[5] Let your inner artist soar (photo © Amborella Organics).

Ice cream is our favorite food—no kidding. We could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and all the times in between. We can sit in bed watching late-night TV with a pint at our side. And we scrupulously take note of all of the ice cream holidays—each a reason to indulge.

Here are the 50 ice cream holidays, plus America’s favorite flavors.

But, there is not yet a:

 
and most importantly:

 
So if you’re in a position to create one of these holidays, we’d appreciate it.

And make them in April and October, two months where there are no ice cream holidays, and the December holiday is rather iffy*.
 
 
> America’s 21 top ice cream flavors are below.

> The history of ice cream.

> The different types of ice cream and other frozen desserts.
 
 
THE YEAR OF ICE CREAM HOLIDAYS

January

 
February

 
March

 
April

 
May

 
June

 
July

 
August

 
September

 
October

Nothing!
 
November

 
December

 
 
THE 21 MOST POPULAR ICE CREAM FLAVORS

The YouGov public opinion survey asked 1,000 U.S. adults about their favorite ice cream flavor. The results:

[source]

[1] Which flavor would you eat first (photo © McConnells)?

[2] Make a luscious parfait on November 25th, National Parfait Day (photo © ).

[3] National Baked Alaska Day is Februawry 1st (photo © Monkey Business | Dreamstime).

[4] Scoop up your favorite flavor on National Ice Cream Cone Day, September 22nd (photos #4 and #5 © American Heritage Chocolate).

[5] Have a chocolate cookie milkshake on September 12th, National Chocolate Milkshake Day.

[6] Head to Pinkberry on February 6th, National Frozen Yogurt Day (photo © Pinkberry).

[7] Coffee lovers: Make an affogato by pouring espresso over ice cream. September 6th is National Affogato Day (photo © Tony Liao | Unsplash).

[8] National Cherry Popsicle Day is August 26th. But you can go for an artisan cherry ice pop instead (photo © Fabbri).

*This isn’t the same as the official holiday in July, but it does appear in various online articles. We found no factual information about who created this holiday. Like a number of others, it may be based on some local event.

†This holiday is not specifically for ice cream but for the flavor in general.
 

[1] Sour balls: the original sour candy (photo © Tootsie Roll Inc.).

[2] Lemon Heads, a candy to pucker for (photo © Hampton Popcorn Company).

[3] Sour Patch Kids combined sour with chewy (photo © Edelweiss).

[4] Sour Belts in the rainbow flavor (photo © First Choice Candy Store).

THE HISTORY OF SOUR CANDY

When we were growing up, in the pre-digital era, there was one type of sour candy: sour balls, hard round so-called “sucking candies.”

Hard sour candies can trace their lineage to the lozenges of the 1700s. Citric acid, a component of lemon juice, provided plenty of tartness.

Sour balls and other “penny candy” became popular in the mid-1800s [source].

Sour candy-making began in the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, a love of hard sour candy had spread to the U.S.

By the 1980s, the hard candies were joined by chewy sour candies and gummy sour candies. Check out the Top 10 best-tasting sour candies, below.

But back to the beginning of America’s sour craze:

The 1950s had Charms Sour Balls, the best-known brand of the hard round hard candies. The then-standard flavors were orange, grape, lemon, and lime (photo #1). Today’s Charms Sourballs are made in Cherry, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Pineapple, and Raspberry.

In 1962, Lemon Heads appeared: a hard, round ball made with real lemon juice, causing quite the pucker (photo #2). They were introduced by the Ferrara Candy Company, which also sells Nerds, Trolli, SweeTarts, Brach’s, and other popular candy brands.

America’s sugar-sweet palate was warming to embrace sour.

The 1970s and 1980s were big growth years for sour candy.

In the 1970s Sour Patch Kids were first introduced in Canada, making their way to the U.S. in the mid-1980s to the joy of hundreds of thousands of kids, and maybe a few adults.

Warheads were invented in Taiwan in 1975 and first imported to the United States in 1993.

The 1980s saw a great sour candy event: The Trolli brand of sour gummy worms was invented in Germany.

In the 1990s a new shape emerged: Sour Punch fruit-flavored straws.

In 1921 the most recent entry, Sour Belts, was launched in Canada. It was ranked the #2 best-tasting sour candy (see the list below).
 
 
Who Invented National Sour Candy Day?

The American Licorice Company—which makes the Sour Punch and Sour Straws candy lines—founded National Sour Candy Day in founded in 2015.

National Sour Candy Day celebrates those mouth-puckering fruit flavors that we can’t get enough of.
 
 
TODAY’S TOP-TASTING SOUR CANDIES

Here’s a Top 10 ranking of sour candies by taste, conducted by Thrillist. Here’s the full article.

1. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers
2. Sour Belts
3. Haribo Sour S’ghetti
4. Star Mix Twin Snakes
5. Haribo Sour Gummy Worms
6. Extreme Sour Sweet Tarts
7. Sour Punch
8. Sour Skittles
9. Sour Patch Kids
10.Airheads Xtremes

Pucker up, America!
And check out the 50 national candy holidays.

How about a Caviar Parfait for July 18th, National Caviar Day?

Here’s a recipe from California Caviar Company, which sells every type of caviar that makes our heart flutter.

> The different types of caviar: a glossary.

> Affordable caviar.

> See more caviar recipes below.
 
 
RECIPE: CAVIAR PARFAIT

California Caviar made this parfait with three different caviars/roes*: paddlefish sturgeon caviar, trout roe, and saffron-infused whitefish roe.

But you can use any type. We made it twice: once with salmon caviar (ikura) and once with flying fish roe (tobiko).

Prep time is 30 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. HARD-BOIL the eggs. Place them in a pot covered with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let them sit in hot water for 10 minutes.

2. TRANSFER the eggs to an ice bath to chill. Once cool, peel the eggs and press them through a sieve with a wooden spatula.

3. MIX 1/4 cup of the crème fraîche with lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.

4. TRIM the crusts from the brioche slices and cut them into four pieces to make the soldiers. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat and toast brioche sticks until all sides are golden brown.

5. DIVIDE the ingredients evenly among four small parfait cups or aperitif glasses. Layer them starting with trout roe, then crème fraiche, chives, saffron-infused whitefish roe, egg, another teaspoon of crème fraiche, and finally topping with paddlefish. Serve with toasted brioche sticks, a.k.a. toast fingers, or toast soldiers.
 
 
MORE CAVIAR RECIPES

[1] Caviar parfait, an elegant first course (photos #1 and #2 © California Caviar Company).

[2] Different colored caviars can make an attractive presentation. From top left, clockwise: smoked trout roe, paddlefish roe, wasabi-infused whitefish roe, flying fish roe, salmon roe, whitefish roe.

[3] Toast soldiers can be enhanced with ham, cheese, smoked salmon, and other ingredients. See how here (photo © 30 Seconds).

[4] An easy hors d’oeuvre: baby potato bites, bite-size boiled red jacket potatoes topped with crème fraîche and salmon caviar (photo © Fotolia).

*Caviar vs. roe: Roe are the eggs of a fish. They are also called berries, pearls, and grains. In addition to sturgeon roe, roe from several different species of fish are enjoyed by consumers: keta roe from the keta salmon; masago from the smelt, tobiko from the Icelandic flying fish, avruga from the Spanish herring, plus American roes from the bowfin, lumpfish, paddlefish, trout, and whitefish. In the caviar trade, once the roe has been removed from the fish and salted, it becomes caviar.

†“Toast soldiers” is a British term that refers to strips of toast cut from a slice of toasted bread. In the U.S., we call them toast fingers or toast strips. The term “soldiers” arose because the strips are reminiscent of the formation of soldiers on parade. The toast is sliced in this manner so that it can be dipped into the opening of a soft-boiled egg that has had the top of its shell removed (see photo #3). However, it has found many other uses (see these snazzy toast soldiers). The first-known mention of the French term for toast soldiers, mouillettes (moo-YET, dip in English), is in an 1868 novel. The British term, “eggs with soldiers,” appears to date only from the 1960s, first appearing in a novel where it is used to eat soup. In 2005, The Daily Telegraph reported the invention of a device for cutting bread into soldiers. Shaped cutters that turn toast into human-like soldiers are also available [source].
 
 

[1] Strictly for grown-ups: Peach Frosé Ice Pops (photos #1 and #2 © Discover California Wines).

[2] Enjoy the pop straight or make a winetail (wine cocktail) by melting it into a glass of sparkling wine.

[3] A summer bounty of fresh pieces (photo © Lum3M | Pexels).

[4] While you’re slicing peaches for this recipe, slice a few more for fruit salad or an ice cream topping (photo © California Olive Ranch).

[5] Two leaves of fresh basil make an aromatic garnish for the cocktail (photo CO Public Domain).

Peachy keen: July 17th is National Peach Ice Cream Day. It’s one of our favorite flavors, unfortunately, available only in summer months during peach season.

But we’ve got recipes that can be made with fresh or year-round with frozen peaches:

 
Today, we have a “relative of peach ice cream”: Peach Frosé Ice Pops.

Frosé ice pops are great by themselves or as a fun addition to a glass of sparkling wine from California. As the ice pops melt, the flavors mix and mingle with the sparkling wine, creating a delightful cocktail experience.
 
 
> The history of Frosé.

> The history of ice cream.

> The different types of ice cream and frozen desserts.

> THe history of peaches.
 
 
RECIPE: PEACH FROSÉ ICE POP & COCKTAIL

These Peach Frosé Ice Pops use peaches (you can substitute canned cling peaches), peach nectar, and rosé wine, frozen in ice pop molds.

 
For A Cocktail

 
Preparation

1. PURÉE half of the sliced peaches, rosé, orange juice, and sugar on high speed in a blender until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup; discard any solids.

2. DIVIDE the peach mixture among ice pop molds, leaving about 1″ space at the top. Freeze until slightly slushy, about 1 hour. Meanwhile…

3. DICE the remaining peach slices into very small pieces. Stir the semi-frozen mixture with an ice pop stick or chopstick, then divide the remaining diced fresh peaches among the molds, stirring to incorporate well with the ice pop stick.

4. COVER the molds, insert the sticks, and freeze until the ice pops are solid, at least 8 hours.

To serve as a cocktail:

1. PLACE the ice pop upside down into a wine glass. Pour 4 ounces (118 ml) of sparkling wine into the glass.

2. GARNISH with fresh peach slices and/or an orange wheel.

3. PLACE 1-2 basil leaves in the palm of your hand and slap your hands together to release the aroma of the basil. Drop the leaves into the glass and serve immediately.
 
 
MORE FROSÉ COCKTAIL RECIPES (WINETAILS)

A winetail is a wine cocktail, using wine instead of spirits. Of course, if you also want to add a splash of spirits to your winetail, we won’t tell.