Hopped up on pops

Last year, San Francisco-based restaurant consultant Andrew Freeman and Co. declared gourmet popsicles a growing nationwide trend in the firm’s annual hottest fads report, and I’ve been eager to see when a reinvented popsicle might hit our local market (and if it could supplant sno-balls or the fantastically loud Pinkie Dinkie Man who comes through my neighborhood.) Sure enough, Shreveport-based Geauxsicles, recently made its pops available at Maxwell’s Markets. The refreshing fleur-de-lis embossed handmade pops come in 12 flavors locally and include real fruit and ingredients like caramel, chocolate and Nutella.

Geauxsicles is the brainchild of owner Erin Johnson, and her siblings Walter, Elizabeth and Andrew Johnson. “They’ve been incredibly well-received,” says Walter. Geauxsicles has a freestanding shop on Youree Drive in Shreveport. The team recently purchased a food truck, and they’re in the process of outfitting it to hold gobs of frozen stuff. Walter Johnson says Shreveport’s mobile eatery scene is quiet, and was excited to learn about Baton Rouge’s energetic fleet. He says he and his pops might have to visit.

The company’s most popular flavor is the Cookie Mac-ster, a homemade caramel popsicle with chocolate cookies. Another is the aptly named Summertime, which features strawberry, peach, yogurt and honey. The newbie, Sister Hazelnut, is made with chocolate and Nutella.

I’d write about soup or stew this week, but man, with the balmy winter we’ve having around here, something cool sounds awfully good.