Ice, Ice Candy

CEBU, Philippines — It was a particularly humid afternoon at home a few days ago. But while we grownups were trying to cool ourselves a bit with hand fans, my five-year-old grandnephew was oblivious to the discomfort. The boy was busy playing around the living room, muttering what he could of the lyrics of the song “Ice, Ice Baby.”

sHearing it, the boy’s mother and I spontaneously looked at each other. Eureka! We got the great idea.

Why didn’t we think of it sooner? Ice candy is a no-brainer to make and a no-brainer idea for a summer cooler. Shame on us – it had to take a naïve little boy to make us realize how to beat the summer heat.

In no time, we got busy in the kitchen. Good thing there was a big can of fruit cocktail sitting around, a leftover from last Christmas. The three pieces of “lakatan” bananas on the dining table made a good supplement, cut into small cubes.

Given what we had on hand, I remembered something I had earlier come across on the internet: “Fruit Salad Ice Candy.” Ideally, it would be made with a number of fresh fruits available. But the recipe did not say either that fruit cocktail wouldn’t do.

They in the rural areas may have the fortune of being surrounded by fruit-bearing trees. It may be so easy for them to pick one fruit here, another one there, and so on. Nothing compares better with fresh.

The city folks don’t have the same fortune. But they have access to supermarkets, where they can easily buy fruits in the can – or even raw fruits, although these aren’t as fresh anymore as the ones just picked from the tree. At a little more cost and a little less freshness, urbanites may still enjoy their own ice candy.

Ice candy, as everyone may already know, is frozen homemade popsicle.  Basically, it’s made by mixing fresh fruits and milk. One may concoct his own flavors with whatever fruits are available at home.

It’s so simple really – all the ingredients are mixed together in a big bowl. Portions of the mixture are place in individual small plastic bags. Then the filled bags are placed in the freezer to harden.

Yes, yes, I know. With little children at home, it rarely happens that the ice candy gets to be fully frozen the way it should be. Kids can’t wait for hours for the ice candy to harden. As soon as the small bags in the freezer become cold enough, these would by little hands one by one until none.

Here is an ice candy recipe from https://skypip.com that would be easy for city folks to do. Well, the rural folks may adopt it for their convenience, too. 

Fruit Salad Ice Candy

Ingredients:

1 pc Buko, finely shredded meat only

½ cup Condensed Milk

1 cup Evaporated Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)

10 pcs Ice Candy Bags (1¾ by10 inches)

1 can (about 432 grams) Fruit Cocktail, drained (but set aside 3 tbsp syrup)

Procedure:

• In a big bowl, combine milk (condensed and evaporated), vanilla, buko, and fruit cocktail syrup.

• Into each ice candy bag, put a portion of fruit cocktail, and then fill in with the liquid mixture.

• Seal each ice candy bag and freeze overnight.

• Serve the following day.

This recipe makes 10 pieces.

Perhaps the waiting for the ice candy to be fully frozen adds to its appeal. Everyone has to wait for the right time before getting it from the fridge. It is just like love – it has its right time.