Kero Kero Pop! Midori Sour Popsicle

One of my favorite alcohols is Midori. Midori is a vibrant green melon flavored liqueur first made in Japan in the 1970's. Midori (緑) means emerald green in Japanese, and this liqueur is a super sweet and heady concoction of melon and alcohol. Really, leave it to me to love the one alcohol most similar in taste and smell to the melon chewing gum from Sanrio. *Their Keroppi melon erasers really don't taste as good as they smell, stick to the candy and gum.

Besides drinking it in Japanese slippers, Tokyo teas, and Midori sours, I love to make popsicles with it! Especially now, since it has been so hot lately, pops have been on my brain. This blog post is my popsicle version of the Midori sour, affectionately named "Kero Kero Pops" in honor of my favorite Sanrio character, Kero Kero Keroppi.

I am really the last person who should be talking about alcohol. I can't really drink. I am, however, somewhat of an expert on Keroppi, as my family can attest.

Homemade lemonade would work great too!

Leave it to lady luck: I look most like a big busty German bar wench, yet I managed to inherit my Japanese side's alcohol intolerance.  If I drink more than a single glass of beer, I get nauseous and unbearably hot, followed by a stuffy head and racing heart.  The best way to describe it is that I do not get drunk; I go from being sober to terribly hungover without the fun in between. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not get fun and crazy college stories.

Apparently up to 50% of people of Japanese descent are aldehyde dehydrogenase deficient, meaning they lack the enzymes to properly break down alcohol.  This can range from mild ("Asian glow") to people like me, where drinking in quantity isn't possible without immediately throwing it back up.

Don't overfill your molds, because it will expand when it freezes!

Enough about my uncanny knack for being the designated driver, let's talk more about boozy pops!  The key to any alcoholic popsicle is that alcohol will not freeze at most freezer temperatures. So you need to maintain a certain ratio of alcohol to water/fruit in order to get the pops to set properly. I've heard it can only be about 20% alcohol, but I encourage you to play around with it and see just how high it can go.

Since these popsicles have alcohol in them, they might take a full 24 hours to set up firm depending on the size of the popsicles. You can use any awesome popsicle mold you have on hand, but for poor people like me, 3 ounce dixie cups work great and freeze in less than 12 hours.

Kero Kero Pop! aka Midori Sour Popsicle

2 cup lemonade (or limeade)
1/2 cup Midori

Mix the lemonade and Midori together and pour into popsicle molds and place into the freezer to set. After an hour and a half chilling time, insert popsicle sticks if need be. This will fit perfectly into eight 3 ounce dixie cups, and feel free to double or halve the batch as needed.

I have seen some midori popsicles with pureed honeydew in them, which sounds amazing and bumps up the melon flavor. I don't have anything to easily puree melon in (like a food processor or blender) but feel free to take this idea and run with it if you do!

Mr. Mochi liked these super easy popsicles so much he is requesting more pop recipes, so stay tuned!

See Also:
Hurricane Popcorn
Deconstructed Ichigo Daifuku