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Otter Pops are a brand of freeze pops sold in the United States. The product consists of a clear plastic tube filled with a fruit-flavored liquid and is one of the earliest brands of this dessert.
Some varieties claim to contain 100% fruit juice, mostly apple juice. This variety was clear, as it also removed any artificial colors. Otter Pops are a frozen treat, but stores generally sell them at room temperature for the consumer to later freeze at home.
Official Otter Pops website
{{Ice-based beverages and desserts Brand name frozen desserts Brand name snack foods Jel Sert brands Products introduced in 1970 de:Wassereis (Lebensmittel)
Otter Pops are a brand of freeze pops sold in the United States. The product consists of a clear plastic tube filled with a fruit-flavored liquid and is one of the earliest brands of this dessert.
Some varieties claim to contain 100% fruit juice, mostly apple juice. This variety was clear, as it also removed any artificial colors. Otter Pops are a frozen treat, but stores generally sell them at room temperature for the consumer to later freeze at home.
Background
National Pax introduced Otter Pops in 1970, in competition withJel Sert
The Jel Sert Company is a privately held company based in West Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1926, it specializes in making drink mixes, dessert mixes (pudding and gelatin), and frozen novelties.
History and Products
The Jel ...
's similar product, '' Fla-Vor-Ice''. As of 1990, the product was manufactured by Merrytime Products Inc. of Marshall, Texas.
In 1996, Jel Sert acquired the rights to Otter Pops as well. During the 2000s, Jel Sert modified the Otter Pops recipe to add more fruit juice.
The company's manufacturing facilities are in West Chicago, Illinois
West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,614 at the 2020 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner Junction, after its founder, John Bice Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Un ...
. Otter Pops come in 1-, 1.5-, 2- and 5.5-ounce serving sizes. They also come in 10 flavors, each named after a different character:
* Blue ( blue raspberry): Louie-Bloo Raspberry
* Red (strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...
): Strawberry Short Kook
* Pink (fruit punch
The term punch refers to a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruits or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from the Indian subcontinent to England by employees of the East India Company in the l ...
): Poncho Punch
* Yellow (lemon
The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
): Rip Van Lemon (discontinued in the late 1970s)
* Green ( lime): Sir Isaac Lime
* Purple (grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
): Alexander the Grape
* Orange (orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
** Orange juice
*Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...
): Little Orphan Orange
* Gold (mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
): Major Mango
* Yellow (pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...
) DJ Tropicool
* White (coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
) Cosmic Coconut
* Cyan ( tropical punch) Anita Fruit Punch
* Red (cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...
) Scarlett O'Cherry (discontinued in the mid 1990s)
Sir Isaac Lime protest
In 1995, National Pax had planned to replace the "Sir Isaac Lime" flavor with " Scarlett O'Cherry". A fourth-grade student inCosta Mesa, California
Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...
learned of the change on the company's World Wide Web site, and organized a petition and picket with his cousins against it; a Stanford professor wrote in support, calling it "Otter-cide". Told the change was final, the protest continued as planned, in the rain. The CEO relented, keeping it, despite it being the least popular flavour. The fourth-grader soon appeared on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...
''. An Internet fan site claims that National Pax packaged the cherry mix as strawberry.
Other uses
Over the generations, other uses of Otter Pops have been devised and shared in the US. They can be used as a colorful substitute for ice in a punch bowl or to flavor mixed drinks.See also
* Pop (frozen snack) * Fla-Vor-Ice *List of frozen dessert brands
This is a list of frozen dessert brands. Frozen dessert is the generic name for desserts made by freezing liquids, semi-solids, and sometimes even solids. They may be based on flavored water ( shave ice, sorbet, snow cones, etc.), fruit purées ( ...
References
External links
Official Otter Pops website
{{Ice-based beverages and desserts Brand name frozen desserts Brand name snack foods Jel Sert brands Products introduced in 1970 de:Wassereis (Lebensmittel)