Treat Yourself to One of These Five Gourmet Popsicles This Summer

Cool off with this summer’s hottest trend: Chef-driven spins on the humble Popsicle.


Styling by Sunny Ricks / Photo by Nina Gallant

1. Matcha-Coconut Popsicle, By Chloe


It’s not fair that dairy-free diners so often get left out of ice cream season. By Chloe comes to the rescue with its push-pops, available in flavors such as birthday cake with rainbow frosting, quinoa-and-horchata, and matcha-coconut. The chain of fast-casual vegan restaurants rides a trend of integrating matcha, a specially grown and finely ground Japanese tea, into foodstuffs: This pop is light and luscious, blended with coconut and crowned by crumbles of sweet chocolate babka.

100 Van Ness St., Boston, 617-936-5936; and other locations; eatbychloe.com.

2. Kelp–and–Toasted Sesame Popsicle, the Hourly Oyster House


From freshly shucked bivalves to a standout lobster roll, the Hourly brings a taste of the ocean’s freshest fruits to Harvard Square—and that includes this new pop. First, chef Mark Goldberg nets seaweed from Ocean Approved, a Portland, Maine–based purveyor of sustainable kelp. Then he blends it with tahini paste, coconut milk, and—for a touch of sweetness—simple syrup and purée of calamansi, a Filipino citrus. The frozen pop is rolled in toasted sesame seeds and wrapped with a ribbon of nori.

15 Dunster St., Cambridge, 617-765-2342, thehourlycambridge.com.

3. Cape Beach Plum–Yuzu Popsicle, the Yard at Liberty Hotel


All summer long, this pretty, cloistered hotel courtyard at the Liberty hosts a lineup of outdoor events—from yoga classes to a wine-dinner series—all complemented by chef Daniel Kenney’s thirst-slaking pops. This iteration uses hard-to-find beach plums plucked from Cape Cod sand dunes, which get poached for hours with rock sugar, Thai basil, lemongrass, and Japanese yuzu juice. The resulting jam is mixed with tonic water and frozen with fresh basil leaves and a lemongrass stalk in place of a stick.

215 Charles St., Boston, 617-224-4000, libertyhotel.com.

4. Tamarind–Thai Chili Popsicle, Wild Pops


Though she also stocks other freezers—including those of the taco-filled Chilacates chain—Shira Gold’s JP pop shop features the fullest assortment of her gourmet flavors, from avocado to the heat-meets-sweet tamarind–Thai chili: Inspired by spiced fresh-cut fruit she used to buy from Mexican food carts while living in Los Angeles, Gold took this pop in an Eastern direction by invoking two staple ingredients of Southeast Asian cuisine.

3213 Washington St., Jamaica Plain, wildpopsusa.com.

5. Baklava Popsicle, Catalyst Café


At this casual, daytime-only offshoot of Kendall Square’s refined restaurant Catalyst, pastry chef Angela Peterson is doling out pops such as goat’s milk–lavender, a Girl Scout Cookie–inspired Samoa, and baklava—a tribute to her mother’s favorite treat—all summer long. Honey-soaked pieces of nut-filled filo dough are folded into vanilla soft-serve ice cream, then frozen in a mold. The result is dipped in Valrhona chocolate and studded with additional bits of the dessert.

75 Binney St., Cambridge, 857-259-6410, catalystcafecambridge.com.