Paloma Pops

Palomas are the lesser-known cousin of the Margarita and taste fantastic.

You find them in many variations across the Southwest: traditional, spicy with jalapeños, floral with a rose simple syrup, or even made with gin.

Citrus trees are all in bloom and as the temperature heats up, the fruit begins to fall from our trees daily. No better way to reward yourself for picking up that fruit than by turning it into a cocktail!

While the traditional Paloma recipe (tequila, grapefruit, lime) is served on the rocks, I like to freeze the grapefruit juice mixture and enjoy them slushy and cold.

Awhile back, I started freezing fresh juice and edible flowers into ice pops for Mimosas. So beautiful and impressive!

When pouring bubbles over the juice pops, the flowers would swirl to the top and kept the Champagne chilled while you sipped.

The thought of pouring tequila over the juice pops seemed, well, alarming, so I added tequila into the mixture and turned them into booze pops. You could nibble on them but I plunge the Paloma Pops into my frozen Paloma cocktails.

They taste delicious, look beautiful and make a statement when added to the Paloma. They also melt slower, keeping the drink ice cold.

Palomas are simple to make but the key is fresh pink grapefruit juice. Pink grapefruit  is much sweeter and fresh makes all the difference.

Imagine how a mimosa would taste with Donald Duck orange juice or Tang. No bueno.

Here’s how I make Frozen Palomas with hand-picked and fresh-squeezed pink grapefruit and Paloma Pops!