We thank PeanutButterLovers.com, the consumer website of the Southern Peanut Growers for this recipe. It makes a dozen creamy pops, with hardly any effort.
 
 
CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER-BANANA POPS

Ingredients For 12 Pops

 
Preparation

1. PLACE all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into ice pop molds or substitutes. Freeze until firm. How easy is that?

2. TO REMOVE: Run the mold under warm water as needed to release the pops.
 
Find more peanut butter recipes—from appetizers and soups through mains and desserts—at PeanutButterLovers.com.

 
NO ICE POP MOLDS? TRY THESE SUBSTITUTES:

If you don’t want to invest in ice pop molds, how about Zip-A-Pop disposable plastic sleeves (third photo at right). We love them!

Otherwise, take a look around. Most likely, you have one or more of these:

 
If you don’t have ice pop sticks, here’s another great recycling opportunity:

 
If you’re not a peanut butter or banana lover, here’s a recipe from Pom Wonderful that trades the PB for pomegranate juice.
 
Prep time is 20 minutes, plus 4 hours freezing.

[2] Overripe bananas are an invitation to make banana pops (photo © Baking Library).

[3] Zip Pop bags (photo © ZipPops).

[5] Pomegranate seeds are called arils (photo © Good Eggs).

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. SCORE 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate under water to free the arils (the seed sacs).

The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top.

2. STRAIN and place the arils in a clean bowl. Refrigerate or freeze any extra arils for another use.

3. PREPARE the simple syrup (recipe).

4. PLACE all ingredients except the arils in a food processor; process until smooth. Then stir in the arils and divide the mixture evenly among the molds/cups.

5. FREEZE slightly; then insert an ice pop stick or plastic spoon into the center of each cup to be used as a stick. Freeze until solid.

When we were in college, we went often to the Brigham’s Ice Cream Parlor in Harvard Square for a Raspberry-Lime Rickey. The coffee shop craze that began in Seattle had not yet become a destination elsewhere. Rickeys were the Frappuccinos of the day.

To us, a Rickey was raspberry syrup mixed into club soda with a big squeeze of lime.

We had no idea that the Rickey (originally the “Joe Rickey”) was a fizzy highball, created in 1883 at Shoomaker’s bar in Washington, D.C. (the different types of fizzy water).
 
THE HISTORY OF THE RICKEY

The drink was named for “Colonel” Joe Rickey, a Democratic lobbyist from Missouri. Each morning, he went to Shoomaker’s for a Bourbon with Apollinaris sparkling water over lump ice (today’s cubes).

Cocktail history was changed one day when the bartender, said to be George A. Williamson, squeezed half a lime into the glass and tossed the squeezed lime in after it. The Rickey was born.

 
Omit the spirits altogether and you have a mocktail/soft drink that you can layer with other flavors. Omit the bitters in the cocktail and trade the simple syrup for fruit syrup, and you have the Raspberry-Lime Rickey of our youth (fondly referred to as a Razz-Lime Rickey. We had to have at least one a day).
 
MODERNIZE YOUR RICKEY

Create your signature Rickey: the [Your Name] Rickey instead of the Joe Rickey.

Soft Drink Variations

 
Cocktail Variations

 
RECIPE: THE RAZZ-LIME RICKEY: COCKTAIL

We turned our college favorite, the Razz-Lime Rickey soft drink, into a cocktail.

Ingredients Per Drink

[1] A Gin Rickey from from Elegant Affairs. [2] A Raspberry Lime Rickey soft drink rom CooksCountry.com. [3] A Blueberry Rickey with a blueberry cocktail pick (photo courtesy Essence Designs). [4] The original Rickey, made with bourbon (the mint must be left over from a Mint Julep (photo via Tumblr).

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the raspberry-lime syrup: Place the raspberries in a bowl, sprinkle the sugar on top and add the lime juice. Mash with a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside and let the mixture marinate for 10 minutes. Strain it through a sieve to remove the seeds.

2. FILL a glass with ice and add the syrup add the sparkling water. Stir, add the vodka and stir again.

3. TOP OFF with sparkling water. Garnish and serve

You can make four drinks at a time with these proportions. In a pitcher combine as above:

 
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir again before pouring into ice-filled glasses.
 
__________________
*The Brigham’s chain of ice cream parlors is defunct (along with its competitor, Bailey’s). The company closed most of its locations in 2008 and sold the rights to its ice cream brand to HP Hood. The chain declared bankruptcy in 2009, but Hood still produced quarts under the Brigham’s name, sold in supermarkets in New England.
  

Bacon hot dogs from Vermont Smoke & Cure, a craft producer of meat products (photos courtesy Vermont Smoke & Cure).

The dogs combine beef, pork and uncured, maple-brined bacon. They’re smoked with cob and maple wood and stuffed in a natural lamb casing. The result: a succulent snap and a sweet, mellow smoke flavor.

Here are tips for enjoying a bacon hot dog:

 
The hot dogs are $5.99-$6.99 at select Whole Foods and natural foods stores in the Northeast. Here’s a store locator.
 
ABOUT VERMONT SMOKE & CURE

Vermont Smoke & Cure makes bacon, ham, hot dogs, meat sticks, pepperoni and uncured summer sausage.

The products are made from premium, vegetarian-fed meat with no added hormones or antibiotics. They are free of dairy, gluten, nuts, preservatives and sodium nitrites.

The company sells most of its products on Amazon and its own website store, but not [yet] the hot dogs.

We did discover this tempting bacon gift basket that contains:

 
Put it on your gift list for bacon lovers.

In the interim, find a store, buy the bacon dogs, and make people happy.

We were delighted with this summer refreshment idea from Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse.

The Frosé combines Davio’s house-made sorbet with rosé wine.

It’s a refreshing winetail, a mixed drink made with wine instead of spirits (also see beertail.)

You can turn a Frosé into dessert by adding more fruit and less wine. You also can mix different flavors of sorbet.

Don’t use a bone-dry rosé, but have the wine store clerk guide you to something with a hint of sweetness*. It will go better with the sorbet and fruit. We used a sparkling rosé and loved it.

Use whatever glassware you have on hand, from tumblers to wine goblets.
 
> Also See Wineshakes, Wine Milkshakes
 
 
RECIPE: DAVIO’S FROSÉ

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. SCOOP the sorbet into a glass, add the fruit and then top with the rosé.

2. GARNISH and serve with a spoon and a straw.
 
 
WHAT IS ROSÉ WINE?

Also referred to as blush wine, rosé can be made as a still, semi-still or sparkling wine.

Still rosé wines can be made from almost any red grape varietal, or from a blend of varietals. Sparkling rosé wines, including rosé Champagne, are exceptions because they also can be made with white grapes.

The wines get their rosy color from contact with the red grape skins. Depending on the grape, terroir and winemaking techniques, the color can range from the palest pink to deep ruby red to hues of orange or violet.

[1] For a slushy drink, add the sorbet and fruit to the glass and top with rosé (photo © Peabody Johansen, Culinary Concoctions By Peabody).

[2] For dessert, use more fruit and less rosé (photo © Davio’s).

The exception is top-quality rosé Champagne. A 15-year-old Dom Perignon Rosé, for example, is a joy.
 
 
WHAT IS TERROIR?

The same rootstock that is grown in different locations produces different flavors; for example, depending on where it is grown, Sauvignon Blanc can have grassy or grapefruit notes—or neither.

Terroir, pronounced tur-WAH, is a French agricultural term referring to the unique set of environmental factors in a specific habitat that affect a crop’s qualities. It includes climate, elevation, proximity to a body of water, slant of the land, soil type and amount of sun.

These environmental characteristics gives the wine its character. Terroir is the basis of the French A.O.C. (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) system.
 
__________________

*We first made the drink with a sparkling rosé that was as sweet as a soft drink or sweet iced tea. It was too sweet for us.
  

[1] It’s easy add a hit of extra flavor to lemonade, from lavender to peach. Here it’s sweet heat: jalapeño slices with honey as a sweetener (photo © The Nibble).

[2] It’s easy to add a nuance of flavor to lemonade. Our favorites are ginger, lavender and lemongrass (photo © Edith Frincu | Dreamstime).

[3] After you juice the lemons, cut the peel into strips for garnish (photo © Corn Next).

[4] Add your favorite diced fruit or fruit purée. Berry and mango are very popular (photo © Koe Kombucha [now closed]).

[5] Summer is the perfect time for peach lemonade, here garnished with a sprig of rosemary (photo © Flavor & The Menu).

Updated July 2026

July 23rd is National Refreshment Day and August 20th is National Lemonade Day.

While lemonade is indeed refreshing, if the only lemonade you drink comes from a bottle, you’ve never experienced just how much more refreshing real lemonade is.

Bottled lemonades are not only pasteurized, but typically use reconstituted lemon juice. If you’ve ever tasted bottled lemon juice, you know that the flavor is simply not bright and lemony like fresh-squeezed lemon juice.

Lemonade “made from concentrate” and sold like orange juice is the far better choice, as are cans of frozen lemonade and limeade concentrate.

But the best choice of all is to squeeze fresh lemons. It takes just five minutes to make a single glass, and you can adjust the sweetening to your own taste.

It’s the same with limeade.

PARTY IDEA: Get the gang together for a lemonade party. You can make the different varieties, or assign different flavors to your friends.

Below:

> Lemonade or limeade recipe.

> Strawberry-basil lemonade recipe.

> Recipe tips and party tips.

> More lemonade and limeade recipes.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The best hydrating drinks.

> How to add spicy heat to lemonade.

> The different types of lemons: a photo glossary.

> The different types of limes: a photo glossary.

> The different types of sugar and other sweeteners: a photo glossary.

> The history of lemonade.

> The history of lemons.

> The history of limes.

> The year’s 45+ citrus holidays.
 
 
1. RECIPE: CLASSIC LEMONADE OR LIMEADE

You don’t want ice cubes to dilute your lemonade. Ideally, freeze lemonade or a complementary fruit juice (we especially like blueberry and watermelon) in ice cube trays so regular ice cubes won’t dilute the flavor. And keep the lemonade as chilled as possible to use fewer cubes.

You can also use this recipe to make fresh limeade.

Ingredients For 15 Glasses

 
Ingredients For 1 Glass Of Lemonade

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the optional lemonade ice cubes a half day in advance or the night before. For the ice cubes, we save time by reconstituting frozen lemonade concentrate instead of making lemonade from scratch. When ready to make the lemonade…

2. ROLL room temperature lemons on the counter top before squeezing. This maximizes the juice output.

3. PREPARE the superfine sugar if you’re using granulated sugar. If you don’t have a box of superfine sugar, simply pulse regular table sugar to a superfine consistency in a food processor. The time you spend to do this is more than offset by the time it will take to get table sugar to dissolve.

Another technique for dissolving table sugar is to boil the water several hours in advance, stir in the sugar to dissolve, and chill.

4. COMBINE the water, lemon juice and three-quarters of the sweetener in a pitcher; mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust the sweetness bit by bit. Your goal is to keep the fresh lemon flavor first and foremost, and not make sugar the first thing you taste. It’s better to under-sweeten than over-sweeten: People can always add more sweetener to suit their individual tastes.

5. ADD ice to the glasses, fill with lemonade and garnish. Ideally, chill the lemonade prior to serving so it will be cold and require less ice.

6. ADD the garnish: Slice extra lemons or contrasting limes into wheels, and cut notches so they sit on rim of glasses. You can also notch watermelon cubes or strawberries, place blueberries or raspberries on a cocktail pick, add a sprig of lavender or rosemary, etc.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the sugar syrup. Place the sugar in a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Stir to dissolve and let cool. When cool…

2. COMBINE the strawberries with the basil and 1/4 cup of the sugar syrup in a blender. Purée until smooth.

3. MAKE the lemonade. You can combine all ingredients in a chilled pitcher with 5 cups of ice water. Stir well. To keep the lemonade cold, add ice cubes made from reusable ice cubes or water bottler ice rods.

To make by the glass, fill an 8-ounce with ice and add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of the strawberry-basil purée, 1/2 cup cold water, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar syrup to taste. Stir well.
 

[7] There are enough recipes here to have a heck of a summer lemonade party! What if everyone came and brought a different flavor? (photo © The Nibble)
 
 
3. LEMONADE RECIPE TIPS & PARTY TIPS

Recipe Tips

 
To Make One Glass At A Time

1. COMBINE the sugar and hot water in a 16-ounce glass (we use a Pilsner glass) and stir until the sugar dissolves.

2. ADD the the lemon juice and cold water. Fill the glass to the top with ice and serve.
 
Party Tips

Set up a bar where guests can add their own sweeteners—agave, honey, noncaloric, superfine sugar or simple syrup.

You can buy or easily make the latter two, which, unlike granulated sugar, dissolve easily in cold drinks. Here’s the recipe.

For adults bottles of gin, tequila or vodka expand the options.
 
 
4. MORE LEMONADE & LIMEADE RECIPES

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