Eats on the Street – Dave Pops

Posted on June 28, 2011 – 4:56 PM | by Admin
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Cupcakes?  So yesterday.  Frozen yogurt has become passé.  Molten chocolate lava cakes?  Puh-lease.  The newest trend in sweet treats is the simple Popsicle.  Except these new Popsicles are different.  Made without dairy products—these pops are purely fruit, soy milk or water-based drinks and are a big step above the 50/50 bar of your youth.  How about a  mango-mandarin pop?  Or vanilla-chocolate toffee chip?  

Dave Feldpausch got started down the Popsicle road way back in 1985, far ahead of the current trend. Dave was recuperating from a ruptured appendix when he made the jump from smoothies to Popsicles.  There were experiments with equipment, classes at UC Davis, trips to foreign lands, and many, many test runs using family and friends as guinea pigs.  Dave is honest about his first attempts.  He writes:  “Like everything at first they sucked, but then slowly they began to suck a little less until they got pretty good.”

Finally the right concoction was created—and a new freezing technique invented, called ‘duBle’—and the Dave Pop was born.  This new freezing technique uses no dairy and no ice cream equipment.  It’s purely ‘banana science.’ And no, bananas aren’t in every pop—Dave examined how bananas remain creamy after freezing and applied that technique to all fruit–and then expanded that to liquids like soda pop and energy drinks and they don’t drip.  I know, the thought boggles the mind.  But Dave Pops are made with fruit, juice or pop as the base, sweetened as necessary, then stabilized with pectin—just like jam or jelly—as it encapsulates the liquid and keeps it from dripping all over your hand on a hot day.  And not that you needed another reason to love these pops, but the fruit Dave Pops are only about 100 calories.  Might as well have two.

For years, Dave stuck to making treats for family and friends.  When his nephew Luke became diabetic, Dave got to work and came up with “Luke Pops”—no sugar added deluxe pops.  Colleagues at Nevada City’s Lazy Dog Ice Cream truck finally convinced Dave to bring his treats to the public, even giving him an ice cream cart to peddle from.  Dave is now out there selling Dave Pops at various locations in the Central City.

Probably the most difficult decision you’ll have of the day is trying to figure out what flavor to choose.  The most popular flavor for both Dave and Luke pops is, not surprisingly, strawberry.  I hem and haw over root beer, mango, pina colada and lemon-lime but my favorite is cantaloupe.  Yes, a cantaloupe Popsicle. Fresh and perfectly ripe cantaloupe, only frozen on a stick.  Need a pick-up?  Forgo the fruit and get a Red Bull pop.  Or try his newest creation, coconut flake–made with coconut and Coconut Silk.  -SS

Dave and his cart are at the Cesar Chavez Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and the Oak Park Farmers’ Market at McClatchy Park on Saturdays

http://www.davepops.com/

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