(adventurous music)
- You're melting.
- Oh, it's just, um,
so many people.
It's all a bit overwhelming.
- Hey, what's up, guys?
Welcome back to "Binging with Babish".
With this week we're taking a look at the glowing popsicles
from season three of "The Mandalorian".
Now, as you can see,
I have a single lightsaber style chopstick in red,
which is indicative of the Sith.
Oh, come on, stupid kyber crystals.
How did I come by this lightsaber?
Well, it's a good story for another time,
because for now we're gonna make a few different flavors
of popsicles using a few different techniques.
First up, fresh raspberry,
for which we're gonna combine six ounces
of fresh raspberries with 1.75 ounces of sugar.
Tiny whisk together with 3/4 of a teaspoon of guar gum,
a stabilizer and emulsifier that will help
keep the popsicles from separating in the freezer
and keep them tender.
We're blending that together with 5 1/2 ounces
of water in a blender until smooth, but still fruity.
Upon taste testing, I decided it was a little bit too sweet,
so I'm also gonna squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon,
roughly a tablespoon's worth.
Another quick blend to combine,
and then we're gonna pour these into our popsicle molds,
which are definitely not condom shaped.
Next up, a sort of no-churn mango sorbet.
Into the blender goes 10 ounces of frozen mango
that we're gonna blend together with 2 1/2 ounces of sugar,
two tablespoons of lime juice, and three ounces of water.
Now, if you just blend together fruit, sugar, and water
you might end up with an icy popsicle.
So in place of the guar gum
we have a delicious alternative to keep things tender.
2/3 of a cup of cold coconut cream,
not cream of coconut, coconut cream.
Apparently, there's a difference.
If it's cold enough, you can whip coconut cream
into sort of a whipped coconut cream.
But I also found that if you just add it to the blender
and let this thing rip on high speed for about a minute,
you can see it's volume increase before your very eyes.
Once things are light and creamy,
it's headed into the molds,
which are headed into the freezer.
Next up, I want to try a popsicle version
of a Brazilian limeade
that's become popular on social media recently.
Into the blender goes three small sliced limes,
six ounces of sweetened condensed milk,
two tablespoons of sugar, and nine ounces of ice water.
This guy then gets blended on high speed
for 15 seconds, no more.
Otherwise, the limeade will become quite bitter.
After 15 seconds, it's time to strain out
all the citrus particulate.
Then normally this is just served over ice,
which is quite refreshing.
But the sweetened condensed milk should make
for nice and tender popsicles.
Next and last, we have some wild blueberry popsicles.
I got 15 ounces of frozen wild blueberries,
but domesticated blueberries will do.
And then in lieu of just dumping in sugar and water,
we're gonna first make simple syrup
combining four ounces each of water and sugar
in a small sauce pan, bringing to a simmer,
and cooking to a state of 220 degrees fahrenheit,
and allowing to cool before adding to the blueberries.
I'm also gonna add two tablespoons of lemon juice
to shore up the acidity.
Blend that to a state of well blendedness, about 30 seconds.
Give it a taste for sweetness and or tartness,
and pour it into the molds.
Then with lids attached and handles affixed,
these guys are headed into the freezer
for at least four hours, ideally overnight.
Then we get to taste test.
First up, to unmold, just dip these guys in some warm water
for about 10 seconds.
Yank 'em out and shove 'em in your mouth.
Now, I didn't fill myself tasting this one for some reason,
but it's quite good.
It has a bit of raw raspberry flavor
that you can avoid by straining out the seeds.
The mango popsicle is outrageous.
Extremely soft and tender with a lush tropical flavor.
Next up, the Brazilian limeade popsicles,
which you might be able to see settled
a little bit in the freezer.
You can avoid this by using guar gum,
but either way, it was delicious.
Last up, the wild blueberry popsicles,
which tasted like frozen blueberry jam.
So really, really good.
So we've got some great flavors nailed down,
now how do we get these guys to glow?
My first thought, naturally, were glow sticks.
Now even though most glow sticks are non-toxic,
I can't really recommend that you try this
on the off chance that it breaks in the freezer
and leeches into your pop.
But, moreover, because the next day when I cracked them on
and turned off the lights,
their glow was relegated almost entirely
to the bendy popsicle handle.
This may be novel to small children or pets,
but I'm trying to make a really super cool
glowing popsicle for grownups.
So after a bit of research,
I discovered that vitamin B12 powder can be used
as a food additive to make foods glow under blacklight,
and it's available in a charming array of colors.
So after adding precisely 1/4 to 3/8
of the spoonful of this stuff to
however much popsicle mix this is,
we're blending it on high speed
until its electric color is fully incorporated,
pouring it into our molds to set overnight,
and the next day busting out the blacklight.
Who knew that these would ever have a use
outside revealing hand stamps and hotel room stains?
So, with the blacklights on full blast,
let's see if it makes our pop glow.
And even though it definitely looked
more impressive in person,
especially when compared to the non B12 version of the pop,
you can see that the blacklight
definitely brings things to life.
So while this popsicle might only function
at a crime scene or a bowling alley birthday party,
it is indeed a glowing popsicle.
Also, I don't know who got murdered on my table,
but I think this episode's now admissible as evidence.
But then I realized that I had the answer
in front of me all along.
My lightsaber chopsticks have removable blades
so they can be cleaned.
So once frozen inside and reattached to their base,
they make for a really, actually glowing popsicle.
Don't do it, Andy, don't.
Oh, God.
I can't exactly figure why,
but that's upsetting for some reason.
Maybe eat this guy with the lights on.
From my point of view, that's evil.
(mellow music)