Frozen Beach Treats

Two of my favorite people – Brookie and Lisa were some of my first readers when I started this blog in 2011 – are running one of my favorite businesses in Playa Sámara. Pura Paleta makes all natural gourmet popsicles that offer just the right mix of refreshment and self-righteousness; natural sweeteners like agave nectar and raw honey are used only in the flavors that need them like Blackberry Ginger Limeade. These pops combine whole tropical fruits and fresh herbs for very interesting flavors and thirst-quenching, not too sweet frozen treats. Pineapple Cilantro Lime and Mango Ginger Mojito are two of my favorites.

Pura Paleta started producing pops and selling them on the street a little over a year ago. This high season in our little beach town, they’re opening with a new “permanent” location in front of Dragonfly Gallery at the main intersection. Now you don’t have to hunt for them as they stake a daily claim for valuable street-side real estate among the vendors of fish fillets, farm fruits and vegetables, fresh squeezed orange juice, and hot empanadas as well as occasional rattan furniture and concrete planters that make our pueblo oh, so Tico. Most of the vendors set up early each morning in front of the Palí supermarket. Just a few steps away, Pura Paleta now has a home from noon to 5 each day.

Because the girls are hand-crafting cool pops fresh each morning, you can’t buy an icy cold one from their cart until after noon. But if you need one earlier, you’ll find them sold in 3 other locations around the village: Lo Que Hay beach bar, Sámara Organics market, and La Princessa bakery. Lisa and Brookie will deliver pops to your home in orders of ten or more. And offered only for delivery are “cocktails on a stick”, with additions of high end liquors like Grey Goose vodka and Patrón Silver tequila. The fresh pure fruit makes you feel downright smug when sucking on a poptail.