Raw Harmony: Raw lollipops?

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Raw lollipops?

Living a lifestyle of raw can be a little challenging when it comes to kids and the influences they receive from outside the home. My kids are still too small to have a good understanding for themselves of the ill effects of unhealthy food choices, so at the moment their food choices are 'controlled' by me, but as they grow, under my guidance, I hope they are able to make ethical lifestyle decisions based on the foundations our family provide in regards to food and living.

As much as I am passionate about the lifestyle we live within our family, I am a little more relaxed outside this 'controlled' environment. I don't want my kids to feel completely alienated because of our way of living, so if their is a few home baked goods, or additive free crackers on offer while we are at social gathering then I'm happy for the kids to enjoy themselves and the food. Highly processed junk food though, I'm not so casual about. I wont allow my kids to indulge in it. It is very rare for them to come in contact with it though as the company we choose to keep are all families who are against processed foods anyway so it is never on offer.

Life isn't a perfect world of eating 100% raw and organic everyday for everyone, so compromises have to be made. I also don't want my kids to feel like their childhood was a time of 'missing out', so as long as I keep our home a happy raw vegan home, then little compromises can be welcomed on the outside.

Speaking of little compromises, my kids have had a taste of lollipops and they love them. While enduring a 6 hour drive to Perth, I purchased a small bag of 'natural and organic' lollipops for the long journey and they have never forgotten them. Who would have thought a little ball of sugar on a stick would create so much joy.
So anyway, While playing around with the honey, Starzi and I stumbled across a novel raw lollipop idea. My kids love raw honey - I find them hiding around corners with the honey tub, spoon in each hand helping themselves. They love it more when the honey is cold and the consistency is more solid. This was the beginning of our raw lollipop experiment.

After leaving the raw honey to stiffen in the fridge, we dipped a paddle pop stick in, twirled honey around the tip and layed it on a teflex sheet. After a number of sticks were coated, we set the honey in the freezer to harden further. The results were wonderful looking raw honey lollipops. Only problem was their stiffened state did not last so they began to droop quite quickly, but the kids ate them fast, so they did prove to be a novel raw lollipop after all. They just need to be eaten directly from the freezer!

Raw honey lollipops!

Our next attempt was to create a 'longer lasting' raw lollipop so I melted some coconut oil and stirred in some raw honey until creamy. This was then partially set in the fridge and once again twisted around paddle pop sticks and set in the freezer. The kids requested to decorate the lollipops with currents and goji berries.

Raw honey and coconut lollipops

The results were completely different yet still novel. The texture was soft and chewy - 'like yogurt buds' was Rhody's comment on initial taste. He then proceeded to eat 4 in a row while Starzi ate 3... A successful experiment!