Pine Lime Splice Popsicles! The great Australian pool-side treat, in a super easy, flipping delicous, homemade rendition. Get amongst it.

Summer in Brisbane city always has been and always will be a hot, sticky affair. Luckily my childhood home was right nearby the local public pool, which was a giant, concrete puddle of joy for me and my brother and sister. Our local had three bodies of water – the kiddie’s pool, no more than a half a metre deep in any one spot, the medium-sized pool, where all the big kids played, and the lap pool, where grown ups would get distinctly shitty with you if you so much as caused a ripple which might disturb their important lap swimming.

My memories of the pool aren’t really memories, so much as flashes of sensations. The way my legs would stick to the vinyl seats of our un-air-conditioned car on the way there. The rough texture of the gravelly concrete paving under my bare feet. The powerful smell of damp and chlorine hanging in the air everywhere. The blazing hot sun drying my wet hair almost instantly, turning it crunchy and flat. The dilemma of wanting to run to save your feet from the hot pavement, but also feeling duty bound by the ‘no running’ signs. The intense, stinging redness and tiredness of my eyes after swimming around with my eyes open for what felt like hours. And the almost-painful feeling of being briskly towelled dry before home time.

Ah, home time. The good life at the pool is over, and it’s time to go back to our wretchedly pool-less house. I can only conclude that every adult who ever took me and my siblings to the pool was pretty awesome, because I can’t remember a single one who didn’t try to mitigate this sadness with the consolation prize of an ice block on the way home. For us, most of the time, it was a paddle pop – chocolate or bust for me. I remember my sister being really into Calypso’s for a while, which I never understood. Why go for an ice block, when you can get an ice cream?

But then there was the Pine Lime Splice; a fluorescent shell of green ice block, surrounding a creamy centre of vanilla ice cream. The very best of both worlds. Sweet, zangy, refreshing, creamy, and did I say sweet? Those bad boys are the taste of summer to me. These Pine Lime Splice Popsicles! are my homespun take. A little more grown up, a little sharper, and I’m fucked if I know how they manage to get the outside coating on the ice cream, so mine are just a two layer affair. These are THE THING for any summer barbeque. Kids and adults will go bonkers for them. And they are so so so so so so so so easy. Now, who wants to go to the pool?

xx Sarah.