A Warning About Popsicle Sticks

With the warm summer weather, lots of bloggers have been sharing their favorite popsicle recipes.  I'm pretty sure that popsicle week may have had something to do with it, too.  Over the 4th of July weekend, Sue Chef and I decided that we should try our hand at making some homemade frozen treats. I stopped by a large discount department store to purchase popsicle sticks and was directed to the craft aisle.
While they had large bags of inexpensive sticks that looked like the one's that were made for popsicles, the bag clearly stated craft sticks. Nowhere on the bag did it say that the sticks were food grade. In spite of a sales associate claiming that they were fine for making popsicles, we didn't buy them. I did, however, write down the contact information for the craft stick company that was on the bag and sent off an email as soon as I got home that day.

We made our popsicles in freezer molds that I picked up at the dollar store, so no stick was required. When we made some others in small paper cups, we used straws that were cut in half as the stick. This didn't work as well as we hoped, so I don't recommend it. I think that the next time, we might try small plastic spoons instead.

Here's a copy of the content of the email that I sent to the company that produced and distributed the craft sticks.

Are your craft sticks safe to be used when making popsicles?

Their response left no room for doubt:

Thank you for contacting Horizon Group USA

The craft sticks are for crafting purposes only.

My advise to you is that continue to enjoy your healthy and homemade frozen treats, but make sure that any sticks you buy don't just look like popsicle sticks. The sticks that you use must be labeled as food safe like these available through amazon, or these from craftysticks.com.  Food safe wooden sticks can also be found in the candy making department of most large craft stores and sometimes in the produce section of your grocery store (for making caramel apples).

The whole purpose of making our own popsicles is to make healthy treats for our family, right?  We don't want to risk making them sick by using the wrong type of wooden stick.

That's my tip for today.  I will be posting the recipe for this Berry Swirl Popsicle in the very near future.

Until then, thanks for reading.  Stop by and visit us at Patty Cake's Pantry.