Marionberry (Blackberry) Mojito Ice Pops
These blackberry mojito ice pops are amazing! Perfect for Summer when you’re craving something cold and refreshing. Best of all, when blackberries or marion berries are at the best the popsicles explode with flavor
Blackberry Mojito Ice Pops
“Hey Boo! Boo! Check it out!” Diane makes her way down the isle as I proudly hold up my find. A frozen bag of berries. But not just any berry. Marionberries. Here in the land of amazing farmers markets and with a garden teeming with fruit trees, herbs, and other delicious things, it isn’t too often that a frozen bag of anything gets us excited. But marionberries are special and are something which is nearly impossible to find in Southern California.
Sierra helping pick mint for the mojito pops. Well, kinda helping.
They belong to the Pacific Northwest. Land of oysters, mussels, craft beer, and incredible berries. Drive through the west side of Oregon and Washington and you’ll find brambles of blackberries inundating the land. Many view them as a weed. An incredibly delicious weed, but a pain in the ass nonetheless.
You’ll even find them growing over the fence at the highway rest stops. Just make sure you pick the ones that are higher than dog leg lift height.
Amongst the masses of blackberry varieties, marionberries reign king. Described as the cabernet of blackberries, they have a deep rich flavor. All the normal blackberry traits, a touch of tart balanced by their berry sweetness, but in the same way Cabernets have a deep complexity to the taste, so do marionberries.
Now that I had found them, what to do with these little gems?
I’ve been slightly ice pop fixated since making the Bi Rite Creamery Blood Orange pops, and since I have been wanting to come up with an adult popsicle, (with alcohol, gutter minded people!) it didn’t take long to figure out what I wanted to make with the marionberries. Especially with the mint going to town in the garden. Marionberry Mojito Ice Pops.
I figured I would make a batch or two with the berries, then move on to something else. Maybe a marionberry crumb or crisp, but after the first test batch I knew this whole bag was spoken for. The Blackberry Mojito Ice Pops were really, really, really good.
The last two weeks we’ve shared them at our food photography workshops, leaving everyone happily purple tongued. And everyone managed to eat them without staining their white shirts.
-Todd
P.S. A huge thanks to everyone who attended our recent food photography workshops at our studio over the past couple weeks. Such great people. It was an immense pleasure to share the weekend and our knowledge with wonderful people like you. And to share our ice pops with you! 😉
Blackberry Mojito Ice Pops
Ingredients
- 12 ounces (340 g or about 1 1/2 cups) Blackberries , fresh or frozen and thawed
- 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Rum
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Water
- 3/4 cup (180ml) 2:1 Simple Syrup (2 parts sugar:1 part water)
- Several hearty dashes of Bitters of your choice (we usually use orange bitters)
- 20-25 Lrg Mint Leaves
Instructions
- If using wooden ice pop sticks, soak sticks for an hour in warm water before making pops (helps keep them from floating up when inserted into molds.)
- If using frozen berries, place them in a blender, food processor, or in a bowl using an immersion blender. Allow to sit at room temperature until thawed.
- Combine all of the rest of the ingredients with the thawed blackberries. Pulse until the mint is fairly well chopped up.
- Taste for sweetness and add more simple syrup if necessary (it should be a touch too sweet as it will lose sweetness after freezing.)
- Pour ice pop base into molds and insert sticks. Freeze for about 4 hours or until completely solid.
- Unmold before serving (run warm water around mold if necessary to help it release.)
Nutrition Information per Serving
That picture is just magnificent. I’ve been marveling at it for several minutes. Genius: the bowl of ice, the turquoise board, the mint, and the blackberries.
Y’all are something else!
These sound nice and cool and refreshing and good!
Lovely blackberry ice pops you made! Your photos are just perfect, too. I recently made my first watermelon margarita ice pops (amazing) but will have to give these a go, too.
Ugh! Killing me with these popsicles! I wonder if I could freeze some summer blackberries so that I can make these pops in the fall when I can finally have alcohol again?
Love the colors in the first photo, and Sierra’s face in the second picture is priceless. She looks so concerned about that mint!
It would totally work to freeze the blackberries this summer. We made these pops as a use for a bag of frozen marionberries we found and they were incredible. I haven’t ever found fresh marionberries down here, so I’ll take them anyway I can get them and the pops were the perfect answer.
These popsicles look stunning – never thought I’d say that about ice pops! Where did you get the molds used for these pops? Really looking forward to making some for the summertime.
We used the Norpro pop molds. We are loving them so much I ordered another mold set, looks the same but is made by progressive just to see if it was any different. But you can make the pops in just about anything. Tall shot glasses, dixie cups… Whatever shape you like.
A treat to try for sure 🙂
Love the idea of these adult pops with rum, Todd & Diane! So cute how Sierra is included in the herb gathering. 🙂
I’ve never heard of or tried Marionberries…but I love all berries and I’m sure these are no exception to my love of blackberries, they look just like them. I will search my frozen food section too and see if I can find some. Gracias…
I am so going to make these popsicles, but I have to find a way to hide them from my girls! I wish I could go and pick the brambles that line the path to my Dad’s “ranch” in Serbia – those wild blackberries are insanely good. Now I have to research the marionberries – I was not aware that they were a part of blackberry family! Good to know!
Your herb garden is a thing of dreams..
Never heard of Marionberry, from the sound of it, must be delicious..
Gorgeous photographs, the blue shade of the board is beautiful..
okay, you two, you have given a whole new meaning to the afternoon “cocktail”!! gorgeous!
Absolutely beautiful! I have never seen Marionberries, but they sound pretty amazing.
Sally Cameron glad you and Kent enjoyed them Sally. Great sharing with you.
Those are beautiful photos and the recipe is certainly inviting.
Where did you find the Marionberries? Because I have never seen them and I want some. I think the hardest berry to find is my very favorite…the Boysenberry. We used to grow them but the plants got ripped up during our remodel. I think my mom said it was a cross between a marionberry and an olalaberry.
Hi Deanna,
We found these at Costco of all places. They were the Columbia Fruit brand. You’re comment made me curious about Boysenberries, especially since Knotts Berry Farm is known for them. I found this article in the LA Times you might be interested in.
These sound great…yummy!