PINEAPPLE, LEMONGRASS & RASPBERRY ICE BLOCKS

MAKES 6 / PREPARATION 5 MINUTES / COOKING 2 MINUTES / FREEZING 4 HOURS OR OVERNIGHT

Who doesn’t love a layered ice block? These are refreshing and lots of fun too.

PINEAPPLE LAYER

60ml (¼ cup) filtered water

25g (2 tablespoons) unrefined raw sugar

½ stalk of lemongrass, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ medium pineapple, peeled and cut into chunks

RASPBERRY LAYER

60ml (¼ cup) filtered water

25g (2 tablespoons) unrefined raw sugar ½ lime

90g (¾ cup) raspberries, fresh or frozen

Put the first three ingredients for the pineapple layer in a small saucepan. In another small saucepan, put the water and the sugar for the raspberry layer then, using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lime and add this too. Bring both pans to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice to the pineapple pan and the juice from the peeled lime to the raspberry pan and set aside until cool.

Strain both the syrups into separate bowls or jugs. To make the pineapple layer, put the lemongrass-infused syrup and pineapple into a blender and blend on high until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve and set aside.

To make the raspberry layer, rinse out the blender then put in the lime-infused syrup and the raspberries and blend on high until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve and set aside.

Put 2 tablespoons of pineapple mixture into each of the 6 ice-block moulds and freeze for 30 minutes or until just frozen. Then spoon 2 tablespoons raspberry mixture into each of the moulds to form layers, then freeze for 20-25 minutes or until only partially frozen. Insert wooden sticks then return to the freezer for a further 5-10 minute or until just frozen. Repeat to form 4 layers, then freeze for 4 hours or overnight. Run the moulds under warm water to help release the ice blocks.