Homemade ice lollies are very satisfying and much healthier than the shop-bought versions. It’s very easy to make them and if you use naturally sweet fruits then not much extra (if any) sugar is needed. Melon is the perfect fruit for this. Here are three simple melon ice lolly recipes that are dairy and egg-free too:

Basic melon ice lolly

Ingredients:flesh of ½ melon, 2-3 Tbsp honey, juice of ½ lemon, ¼ cup of water Preparation: blend the ingredients then pour into moulds and freeze. Tip:instead of water use orange juice – it goes particularly well with the orange-fleshed Cantaloupe melon.

Melon & mint ice lolly

Ingredients:flesh of ½ ripe melon, 50ml water, about 2 tablespoons agave syrup (or honey), 2 tsp chopped mint leaves, juice of ½ lime (or lemon) Preparation:remove the seeds of the melon, chop the flesh and blend with the other ingredients. Spoon the pulp into moulds then freeze. Tip:for adults you can replace the agave syrup  with 2 tbsp melon liqueur (Midori) or add to the puree 2-3 Tbsps vodka. This version takes longer to freeze!

Melon &  ginger ice lolly

Ingredients:1 melon, 3 cm ginger, ¼ cup of sugar, 5 sprigs of mint leaves, 1 lime. Preparation: peel the ginger, thinly slice. Bring the sugar and ¼ cup of water to the boil; add the ginger, grate in the rind of the lime and simmer for about 5 minutes until you get a syrup. Let it cool then strain. Blend the flesh of the melon, lime juice, mint leaves and the syrup. If it is too thick, add about ½ cup of water. Spoon it into a mould then freeze. Tip:honey can be used instead of sugar. In this case, it is not necessary to cook the syrup – just grate 1 teaspoon ginger in the puree.

More Tips

• The melon can be any variety – honeydew, cantaloupe, galia & canary are the most popular. You can even combine two types, layered in the moulds to create a marbled effect. See also thiswatermelon lolly recipe.
• It’s important to use ripe melon,i.e.it has to be sweet!
• The quantity of the added honey, sugar or agave syrup should really depends on how sweet the melon is. Taste the puree and adjust the sweetness keeping in mind that frozen food tastes less sweet!
• All the abovemelon ice lollyrecipes can be prepared in just a few minutes, and takes about 4-7 hours freezing. But if you have an ice-lolly maker, it only takes about 6 minutes to make them.