Refreshing doesn’t even begin to cover these delicious dairy-free tropical papaya popsicles! Easy to make and also free of gluten, refined sugar and nuts. I’ll always love a healthy dessert that tastes good.
More recently I have grown to LOVE papaya. These days I make green smoothies, popsicles, juices with papaya (and the fiber), and yogurt for breakfast topped with papaya or just plain luscious slices as a snack. But, I never really liked it before, it was the fruit that had no flavor or so I thought…
Back in 2012 I went to Puerto Rico with the fam for my step-grandparents anniversary. Every morning the hotel served papaya juice and promoted it at breakfast as an amazing juice to settle and soothe the stomach, cure indigestion and help acid reflux. It’s not the reason I fell in love with it – I fell in love with Papaya because to my surprise in a juice it tasted really good and had the bonus of healing properties! Once I learned that papaya could aid in the healing Acid Reflux and indigestion I went on google to find out what else this super fruit could do. As it turns out, quite a lot. That vacation changed me – I learned that Papaya is delicious in a juice, has healing properties and to NEVER go to Puerto Rico in October, because sitting on a lounge chair drinking papaya juice during rain season is not as fun as it sounds! At least the beta carotene in the papaya could give me a fake tan and I could come home looking like the sun scorched me.
When I started Nutrition School, I invested in a Nutribullet to make smoothies (naturally!). And once I learned to make nut-milks in the Nutribullet using a nut-milk bag as the additional step, I quickly learned I could make juices too, instead of buying a juicer. And can you guess? My first juice was papaya. But it didn’t taste the same as it did on vacation. I thought I did something wrong. It was so much thicker and I didn’t like it. Turns out you really DO need a juicer to get that consistency with THAT fruit. (Not other fruits, because I make juices in the Nutribullet all the time). But with Papaya, the pulp bypasses right through the nut-milk bag so basically you are getting the fiber with it, which is what made it so thick. While fiber is good and really important, the point of Juicing is to get a pop of nutrients into your bloodstream fast, and fiber slows down that process. Juicing is only meant to be the juice from the fruit, while a Smoothie is the whole fruit, fiber and all. But it also turns out that because of the thickness it could easily coat the esophagus, and between the healing properties of the papaya and the thickness, it REALLY does help Acid Reflux and indigestion!! Acid reflux is something I have suffered with on and off my whole life, so this was an awesome tool to add to my box of healthy healing tools. 🙂
Then more recently I learned that if you cut up the pieces of fresh papaya and add a slice of lime in the container during refrigeration it not only keeps it fresher, but it brings out the flavor and makes the fruit really pop in taste. I discovered the Papaya/lime combo at Whole Foods. They did it to keep it fresh, I do it to bring out the flavor. It’s a papaya game changer. You have to try it. Just one slice. That’s it!
Before I give you this recipe I gotta tell you about the BENEFITS! For this recipe I used raw coconut water and papaya. Both have healing properties and body does a good benefits that you need to know about!
PAPAYA BENEFITS:
- Aids in healing Acid Reflux, Indigestion & promotes digestion
- Excellent source of fiber
- Loaded with Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Folate, Potassium and Magnesium
- Boosts immunity
- Rich in Beta Carotene – gives your skin color
- Promotes hair growth and healthy skin giving it the name: Skin Fruit
- Can give your smoothies that luscious creaminess that a banana or avocado would do
Side story – I had just come back from Palm Beach in February, but didn’t sit in the sun. Between bouts of bad inflammatory acne, sensitive skin and Rosacea I just couldn’t bare to have my skin risk getting burnt, so I wore a hat the whole time. When I got home I had made gluten-free cookies for a friend’s boyfriend – these were cookies that were begged for – find them HERE) and when he came over to pick them up, he said – Wow! You look so tan, Florida did you right! I said, nope I never sat in the sun, I just eat a lot of Beta Carotene. He then said, where can I get that? I laughed and then said in colored fruits and vegetables! Beta Carotene is simply the colored pigment found in red, orange and yellow fruits and veggies. Greens have it too, but it’s more concentrated in the rainbow colors. Eat enough of those and you will get a spanking fake tan that looks real, natural and non-toxic – plus it boosts immunity like no tomorrow. Kind of a win!
RAW COCONUT WATER BENEFITS:
- Keeps you hydrated (knowns as your natural gatorade)
- Naturally sweet – non refined sugar used to sweeten smoothies naturally
- Hangover savior : )
- Raw Coconut water uses no additives so it’s taste is PURE
- Has more potassium then a sports drink
- Cholesterol free
Ready to make beautiful music together?
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 cups chopped fresh Papaya
1/4 cup filtered water
3/4 – 1 cup raw coconut water (I love Harmless Harvest)
optional: store fruit over night in a sealed container with a slice of lime to bring out the flavor
my favorite popsicle mold that comes with the sticks
DIRECTIONS:
Put all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.
Once blended pour into a measuring cup and then pour into popsicle molds.
Fill each popsicle mold with mixture, cover the mold with the lid and add popsicle sticks.
Freeze overnight.
Once frozen, run mold under hot water to loosen the lid. Then run bottom of the mold under water to loosen the popsicles. Store popsicles in a ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 4 months.
TIPS:
-I prefer to use raw coconut water because it tastes as if you just opened the coconut. I do not like processed brands because it tastes fake. You want to go with the coconut water that only uses 1 ingredient. You do not want to use coconut water from concentrate, or any that use added sugars. Added sugars would be listed in the list of ingredients. My favorite brand is Harmless Harvest. I love both the clear color and the pink color.
-Sometimes fresh papaya that is not in season or ripe can taste bland. To bring out the flavor, cut it up and store it in a sealed container with 1 slice of a lime overnight and the flavor will pop! Then when you go to use the papaya in the recipe, ditch the lime.
- 2 cups chopped fresh Papaya
- ¼ cup filtered water
- ¾ - 1 cup raw coconut water (I love Harmless Harvest)
- optional: store fruit over night in a sealed container with a slice of lime to bring out the flavor
- my favorite popsicle mold that comes with the sticks
- Put all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Once blended pour into a measuring cup and then pour into popsicle molds.
- Fill each popsicle mold with mixture, cover the mold with the lid and add popsicle sticks.
- Freeze overnight.
- Once frozen, run mold under hot water to loosen the lid. Then run bottom of the mold under water to loosen the popsicles. Store popsicles in a ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Love & Papaya,
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