In a world of sour candy, GoodPop Fruit Sour Pops have entered the chat. They're sweet, sour, icy and fruity—and well deserving of a Taste of Home Award.
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This Taste of Home Award almost didn’t happen. My family loves sweet treats—especially frozen desserts. Ice cream, chocolate-covered berries, sorbet and even homemade cookie dough balls disappear faster than I can keep track. So I should have known when I attempted to hide these new GoodPop Fruit Sour Pops in the back of the freezer that they would be sniffed out in a flash.
I often snack on sour Swedish gummy candy as an afternoon pick-me-up, but when the sweaty days of summer set in and I want everything I eat to be cold, it’s just not as appealing. Then I saw that GoodPop launched sour candy-coated fruit ice pops, and I wondered if I had stumbled upon the best of both worlds in one icy treat. I was hopeful because I was already a fan of GoodPop’s red, white and blue ice pops. The brand’s products are made with natural dyes and fruit juice, so they aren’t syrupy-sweet, but truthfully I just like the taste and the balance they bring to my otherwise protein-packed day.
There are four Fruit Sours flavors with two varieties per box: melon and cherry in one, green apple and blue lemonade in the other. I picked up one of each. Within two days, I saw an empty box in the recycling bin. Did my treat-thieving family beat me to it? I ran to the freezer, and luckily there was still some of each flavor left. I grabbed a blue lemonade, and after just one sweet-tart bite, I knew I would be buying these over and over—and that they deserved a Taste of Home Award.
GoodPop Fruit Sours
Fruit Sour Pops Are Pleasantly Pucker-Inducing
In the same way that opposing flavors go so well together (think spicy Buffalo sauce and creamy ranch), acidity on sweet fruit works as a flavor enhancer. A squeeze of lemon or a sprinkle of citric acid makes fruit taste even more vibrant, which is why we’re in the middle of a sour fruit trend. I’ve tried some of the sour frozen fruit sold in stores, but they’ve either been so tart that I couldn’t taste anything else, or so hard that my sensitive teeth couldn’t get through the chunks. GoodPop Fruit Sours avoid both of those pitfalls.
These ice pops may be made with fruit juice, but there’s nothing watery, weak or timid about the taste. In fact, I almost found the cherry (made with dark sweet cherry juice) too intense, although die-hard cherry fans will likely adore them. I tried each flavor, and blue lemonade was my favorite. The ocean-hued ice pops are tinted with spirulina extract (that I gratefully could not taste) and flavored with a combination of apple, white grape and lemon juices. The mixed juices gives the ice pops a refreshing fruit punch vibe.
Then there’s the coating. The granulated sugar and citric acid mixture that coats almost the entire ice pop is sweet-tart, but not numbingly so. It softens as it melts, taking on a more glossy look and slippery texture, but it’s no less sour. There was just enough pucker to kick the taste buds at the back of my tongue and make my lips purse, but even my son who finds almost everything too sour could handle it.
Those with strong teeth can bite right into the hard-frozen ice pops and experience the crunch of the sweet and sour granules, while those of us with more tender nerves can contently enjoy it at a more leisurely pace. Either way, the ice pop satisfied my sweet tooth and temporarily soothed me on a particularly hot afternoon.
Where to Find GoodPop’s Fruit Sours
It’s pretty easy for me to find GoodPop’s other treats at my local Walmart, Target and ShopRite stores, but I was having trouble consistently finding GoodPop’s Fruit Sours. I reached out to the company, which shared that the ice pops were still rolling out nationwide at retailers including Whole Foods, Wegmans, HEB and Costco, but that they should be on shelves widely in June. I just checked the store locator—now that I see them in stock down the road, I’m off to snag a few more boxes. My summer is going to be so sweet … and so sour.
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