![Otter Pops six flavors - frozen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Otter_Pops_six_flavors_-_frozen.jpg)
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 white, 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 with
Jel Sert
The Jel Sert Company is a privately held company based in West Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1926, its primary products are snack foods and beverages.
History and products
The Jel Sert Company was named for its original product ...
's similar product, ''
Fla-Vor-Ice
Fla-Vor-Ice is the trademark name for a type of freezie. Unlike traditional popsicles, which include a wooden stick, Fla-Vor-Ice is sold in and eaten out of a plastic tube. Also unlike traditional popsicles, it is often sold in liquid form and r ...
''. 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 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railro ...
. Otter Pops come in 1-, 1.5-, 2- and 5.5-ounce serving sizes. They also come in 6 flavors, each named after a different
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
:
* Blue (
blue raspberry): Louie-Bloo Raspberry
* Red (
strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
): 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 ...
): Poncho Punch
* Yellow (
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
): Rip Van Lemon (discontinued in the late 1970s)
* Green (
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
): 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 perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...
): Alexander the Grape
* Orange (
orange (fruit)): Little Orphan Orange
* Gold (
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...
): Major Mango
* Yellow (
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a 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 cultivated for many centuri ...
) DJ Tropicool
* White (
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree 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, the seed, or the ...
) 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 nam ...
) Scarlet '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", and to remove it permanently until a group of
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
fourth-graders created a petition in opposition and picketed the company's headquarters in early 1996. The crusade also included an e-mail campaign, in which a
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
professor reportedly accused the company of "Otter-cide". After meeting with the children, company executives relented and retained the Sir Isaac Lime flavor with "Scarlet O'Cherry" once during 1983 to 1995 but then being forever put on hold.
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)
An ice pop is a liquid-based frozen snack on a stick. Unlike ice cream or sorbet, which are whipped while freezing to prevent ice crystal formation, an ice pop is "quiescently" frozen—frozen while at rest—and becomes a solid block of ice. ...
*
Fla-Vor-Ice
Fla-Vor-Ice is the trademark name for a type of freezie. Unlike traditional popsicles, which include a wooden stick, Fla-Vor-Ice is sold in and eaten out of a plastic tube. Also unlike traditional popsicles, it is often sold in liquid form and r ...
*
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 (suc ...
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
Fictional otters
de:Wassereis (Lebensmittel)