Skip to content

Top Navigation

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Recipes & Cooking
  • Drinks
  • Travel
  • Holidays + Events
  • News
  • F&W Classic
  • Video
  • Lifestyle
  • F&W Pro
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • F&W Classic Insiders this link opens in a new tab
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Food & Wine Books this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Food & Wine

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Explore

    Explore

    • F&W Cooks

      F&W Cooks

      Food and Wine presents a new network of food pros delivering the most cookable recipes and delicious ideas online. Read More
    • Our 22 Best Crock Pot and Slow-Cooker Recipes

      Our 22 Best Crock Pot and Slow-Cooker Recipes

      Looking to amp up your beef stew but unsure where to start? A slow cooker can can take your comfort food to the next level. Read More
    • 50 Affordable Wines You Can Always Trust

      50 Affordable Wines You Can Always Trust

      We’ve assembled a list of 50 of the world’s most reliable, inexpensive wines – bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. Read More
  • Recipes & Cooking

    Recipes & Cooking

    See All Recipes & Cooking
    • Chicken
    • Comfort Food
    • Breakfast + Brunch
    • Salads
    • Desserts
    • Vegetables
    • Pasta + Noodles
    • Chefs
    • Meat + Poultry
    • Soup
    • Appetizers
    • Side Dishes
    • Fruits
    • Seafood
    • Special Diets
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Steal This Trick
  • Drinks

    Drinks

    See All Drinks
    • Wine
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Coffee
    • Juices
    • Beer
    • Champagne + Sparkling Wine
    • Tea
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    • Wine Regions
    • Restaurants
  • Holidays + Events

    Holidays + Events

    See All Holidays + Events
    • Valentine's Day
    • Halloween
    • Passover
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Gifts
    • Super Bowl
    • Easter
    • Thanksgiving
    • New Year's Eve
    • Holiday Entertaining
  • News
  • F&W Classic

    F&W Classic

    See All F&W Classic
    • F&W Classic Insider
  • Video
  • Lifestyle
  • F&W Pro
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • F&W Classic Insiders this link opens in a new tab
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Food & Wine Books this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Travel
  3. Best Popsicles

Best Popsicles

By Food & Wine Updated June 15, 2016
Skip gallery slides
FB Tweet
Best Popsicles: Viva Pops, San Diego
Credit: >Photo © Holli Mayer
What’s better than a frosty popsicle from the freezer on a hot summer day? An artisanal ice pop made with seasonal fruits, local dairy and fresh herbs. American businesses like New York’s People’s Pops and cheeky Suck It in Los Angeles are creating versions of the frozen treats that don’t come with a syrupy sugar high or leave lips stained with artificial dye. —Justine Sterling
Start Slideshow

1 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Las Paletas, Nashville

Best Popsicles: Las Paletas, Nashville
Credit: Photo © Stefan Engström

Owned by two sisters, Irma and Norma Paz, the tiny storefront packs its freezers with two varieties of creative pops: creamy and fruity. Daily offerings cover a floor-to-ceiling blackboard, which also acts as a backdrop for occasional popsicle art. Alongside blueberry lime and creamy banana nut, unconventional flavors range from olive to creamed corn. All can be dipped in chocolate.

  • Delicious Ice Cream Ideas

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Meltdown, New Orleans

Best Popsicles: Meltdown, New Orleans
Credit: Photo © Vaeda Baty

After launching as a food truck in 2008 to great success, Meltdown expanded operations with a French Quarter confectionery. Made from locally sourced and organic ingredients, the pops come in flavors like salted caramel and peach orange blossom.

  • New Orleans Travel Guide

2 of 10

3 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Suck It Sweets and Treats, Los Angeles

Best Popsicles: Suck It Sweets and Treats, Los Angeles
Credit: Photo courtesy of Suck It

This cheeky shop buys fruit from local farms to make its "suck-sickles" in flavors like nectarine and blueberry hibiscus, as well as oddball offerings such as dill pickle or spicy avocado. Many blends include fresh herbs plucked from the patio garden outside.

  • Los Angeles Travel Guide

3 of 10

Advertisement

4 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

People's Pops, New York

People's Pops, New York
Credit: Photo courtesy of People's Pops

Based in the indoor maze of bakeries and gourmet shops that is Manhattan's Chelsea Market, this local pioneer also hawks its farm-to-freezer pops at the Brooklyn Flea, where the founders first got customers hooked on flavors like roasted red plum and tarragon cantaloupe.

  • New York Travel Guide

4 of 10

5 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

King of Pops, Atlanta

Best Popsicles: King of Pops, Atlanta
Credit: Photo © Garry Bowden

When the banking industry let him down, Steven Carse turned to his love of paletas (Mexican ice pops) for a new career. He aspires to run a waste-free company by donating fruit scraps to community gardens. Paletas are made in both Southern-inspired flavors, like the Arnold Palmer (sweet tea with lemonade), and more traditional variations, like Mexican chocolate spiced with cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and vanilla.

  • Atlanta Travel Guide

5 of 10

6 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Pleasant Pops, Washington, D.C.

Best Popsicles: Pleasant Pops, Washington, D.C.
Credit: Photo © Dave K. Cooper

In 2009, college friends Brian Sykora and Roger Horowitz, distressed by the lack of paletas in Washington, D.C., decided to open Pleasant Pops. Using fruits, vegetables, herbs and dairy from sustainable farms, the duo stops at area greenmarkets to sell flavors like strawberry ginger lemonade and cucumber chile out of their truck, referred to as Big Poppa. A brick-and-mortar storefront called the Pleasant Pops Farmhouse Market is due to open this summer.

  • Washington D.C. Travel Guide

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Lil' Pop Shop, Philadelphia

Best Popsicles: Lil' Pop Shop, Philadelphia
Credit: Photo © Abby Sullivan

Philadelphia's first artisan popsicle shop opened in May in West Philadelphia. Owner Jeanne Chang's bright, colorful store attracts students from nearby UPenn and Drexel with unusual combinations like peanut butter and curry, goat cheese cherry, and mango sriracha. Flavors rotate seasonally, with fall ushering in pumpkin and eggnog pops.

  • Philadelphia Travel Guide

7 of 10

8 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

SF Pops, San Francisco

Best Popsicles: SF Pops, San Francisco
Credit: Photo © Rebecca Rouas

The warm weather-only stand's yellow umbrella signals summer at the Marin Country Mart Farmers' Market. Owner Rebecca Rouas experiments with local fruits and herbs to make flavors like rosemary apricot and Chia Lemonade, combining Meyer lemonade and superfood du jour chia seeds. She also caters to kids with simple options like lemonade made hot pink naturally with beet juice.

  • San Francisco Travel Guide

8 of 10

9 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Locopops, North Carolina

Best Popsicles: Locopops, North Carolina
Credit: Photo © Eunice Chang

Opened in 2005, Locopops is now a North Carolina institution with three locations throughout the state. Owner Summer Bicknell—who spent three months in Mexico training in the art of paleta-making—adds an American twist to the traditional frozen bar with varieties like cookies and cream, chocolate brownie and cherry vanilla. Healthier, fruit-only pops like pomegranate tangerine are also popular.

  • More Ice Cream Recipes

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print

Viva Pops, San Diego

Best Popsicles: Viva Pops, San Diego
Credit: >Photo © Holli Mayer

Owner Lisa Altmann turned a hobby into a career in 2008 when she began peddling her pops at San Diego's Little Italy Mercato. Now Altmann runs a store in the artsy Normal Heights neighborhood that's decorated with a vibrant, somewhat psychedelic mural of fruit, flowers, birds and pops. Delicious combos like vegan strawberry basil and creamy blackberry violet use fruits and herbs sourced from San Diego area growers, and the shop supports a local dog rescue group with profits from dog-friendly frozen minis made from organic apple and carrot with no added sugar.

  • More Frozen Desserts

10 of 10

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Food & Wine

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 10 Las Paletas, Nashville
    2 of 10 Meltdown, New Orleans
    3 of 10 Suck It Sweets and Treats, Los Angeles
    4 of 10 People's Pops, New York
    5 of 10 King of Pops, Atlanta
    6 of 10 Pleasant Pops, Washington, D.C.
    7 of 10 Lil' Pop Shop, Philadelphia
    8 of 10 SF Pops, San Francisco
    9 of 10 Locopops, North Carolina
    10 of 10 Viva Pops, San Diego

    Share & More

    Pinterest Email Send Text Message Print
    Food & Wine

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Books from Food & Wine
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithFood & Wine is part of the Meredith Corporation Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Food & Wine. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.foodandwine.com

    Sign in

    View image

    Best Popsicles
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.