PALETA ICE POPS TO COOL DOWN
When the temperature soars, we crave something cool to beat the heat — and every culture has its own take, whether it’s Italian gelato, Japanese mochi or the California ice pops that evoke carefree childhood summers. (Turns out Popsicles actually originated in Oakland. Who knew?)
But colorful ice pops of another sort have begun popping up across the Bay Area — and they’re only new to us. In Mexico, icy, creamy paletas have been sold from street carts and paleterias for generations. Legend has it that the frozen fruit pops date back to the Aztec emperors — perhaps. Evidence is scant. But we do know that the first major paleterias sprang up in the town of Tocumbo in Michoacan and then in Mexticacán in Jalisco, where paleta statues and festivals in each town elevate the ice pop to cultural icon.
Paletas — the name comes from the Spanish word palo, which means stick or shovel — come in a rainbow of colors and flavors, from sweet and fruity to spicy and tangy. Paletas de agua are water or juice-based; paletas de crema are more like ice cream. And both varieties are studded with everything from fresh fruit chunks
to spices, chiles, candy and even cookies, in combinations such as mango and chile peppers or tart tamarind and jicama.
You don’t even have to channel your inner Aztec to enjoy paletas close to home. You’ll find paleterias and Mexican ice cream shops across the Bay Area, with freezer cases full of multicolored ice pops made fresh on site and sold for $2 to $3 a pop. Time it right and you may see the kitchen staff chopping fresh strawberries, mangoes and tamarind pods for the next batch. And restaurant chefs are getting inspired as well.
At San Jose’s new Luna Mexican Kitchen, restaurant co-owner Jo LermaLopez and chef Julio Juarez blend up icy paleta combinations made with organic ingredients. You can try a creamy tamarind version, a jicama-raspberry riff or a spicy mangonada, which combines mango and pineapple with a housemade chamoy sauce, made with pasilla chiles that bring the heat. Or go boozy with an adults-only paleta made with watermelon and smoky mezcal to balance the sweetness.
“Paletas are something new, something different” for Californians, says Juarez, who grew up in Morelia, Mexico, and fondly recalls icy treats flavored with pineapple, mango, sweet arroz con leche and tamarind. His uncle still owns a paleteria in the Michoacan state.
“Paletas are just fun,” Lerma-Lopez says, “and the flavor possibilities are endless.”
At San Francisco’s Nopalito, chef Gonzalo Guzman dabbles in paleta creativity as well, with a cafe con leche version, as well as a mango con chile. And now you can make them at home, too, thanks to his new cookbook, “Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen” (Ten Speed Press, 256 pages, $30), which includes five paleta recipes.
All you need is an ice pop mold and some sticks.