MY DARLING LEMON THYME

pink grapefruit + rosemary popsicles recipe

Pink grapefruit + rosemary popsicle

I know I’ve mentioned how amazing the citrus is over here a bunch of times since we moved to Perth, but it still continues to amaze me. The season starts out with quietly with sweet mandarins, we then get slammed with loads of oranges in various shades of orange, ruby red and blood, finally limes and grapefruit sneak in just before early spring brings us lemons, cumquats and tangelo. We are truly spoilt for choice way over here in this sandy little part of the world, and I couldn’t be happier!

Of all of the citrus pink grapefruit has long been one of my favourites, possibly because they are not that easy to come by back home in NZ, or maybe it’s because eating them reminds me of the first time I tried them when I moved over here to Australia as an innocent little teenager all those years ago. They are sour but not mouth puckering so, can be eaten like oranges and the beautiful pink hue of their juice is some of mother natures finest work.

pink grapefruit

pink grapefruit

pink grapefruit juice

Pairing pink grapefruit with the savoury resinous flavour of fresh rosemary is a combination that has intrigued me for some time, so when I bought a few bags of grapefruit recently my mind got ticking over about possible ways to incorporate the two. It’s been a beautiful first week of the school holidays here in W.A, with the sun out nearly everyday. Ice-blocks, icy-poles or popsicles depending on where you are from was the obvious choice.

rosemary
W.A

W.A

I made these the day after we spent some time with friends who were camping up the coast in Lancelin. It was my first time up those ways and it’s awesome that in just a little under two hours from the city there exists a place as beautiful as this. The colour of the (albeit cold) water was beyond beautiful, in shades of turquoise, light and deep blue. The kids played around on the foreshore until the wind picked up too much to make playing fun, then we all retreated back to their camp to eat lunch and hang out. We slept mighty good that night…

Lancelin, Western Australia
Pink grapefruit + rosemary popsicles
Pink Grapefruit + rosemary popsicle

pink grapefruit + rosemary popsicles
Regular grapefruit juice could be used in place of pink grapefruit if not available, however you will probably need to increase the sugar content as pink grapefruit are much sweeter than regular.
Makes 5.

1 1/2 cups (185ml) freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (from two large grapefruit)
1/2 cup (100g) raw unrefined sugar or brown rice syrup
1/4 cup (60ml) filtered water
2 teaspoons roughly chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Pour grapefruit juice into a large jug and set aside. Combine sugar/brown rice syrup, water and rosemary in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for 30 seconds then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse and cool for 30 minutes. Strain rosemary syrup over the juice, squeezing rosemary with your hands to extract as much of it’s flavour as you can, then whisk to combine. Pour into popsicle/ice block moulds, pop on the top and freeze overnight, or if you are using wooden sticks, freeze the popsicles for 1-2 hours until partially frozen before inserting wooden sticks and returning to the freezer overnight.

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15 Responses

  1. Gorgeous colour! I love the flavour of grapefruit but not of actually eating the fruit on its own. These are perfect. I'm sure these would be lovely as a boozey adult version for summertime BBQ season too.

  2. Beautiful recipes and photos! I just stumbled across your blog, and it's great, very inspiring.. I'm a kiwi living in Holland, and your blog is a lovely little taste of home!

    Can't wait to try these iceblocks, I'll have to get in quick before winter settles in over here..

    Look forward to reading more!

  3. Emma, your photos exude freshness and joy! I need to make your pops.

    I am such a fan of red grapefruit – we call them "ruby red" here. I've mixed the juice with other herbs, but never rosemary, and it sounds brilliant.

    I'll have to wait until our citrus season really takes hold. That's so amazing that you can grow so many varieties there. We really do well with just a few in our area.

    xo
    E

  4. I don’t think it is just the citrus that love the weather over there I think it is everything. Seems to me like you guys have a pretty good selection of produce on offer. Oh I do hope I get to discover it very soon… Enjoy your school break. We have just finished ours and are back into the swing of things for the last term. BTW – pics are beautiful

    1. Yes you are right, we are truly spoilt for choice with amazing produce over these ways… mind you I reckon the whole of Australia is! 🙂