On a hot summer day, I went to the farmers market by the Grove path to get some fresh fruits and veggies. I was so hot, tired and thirsty and then saw the Peace.Love.Pops cart like it was a mirage in the desert. It was exactly what I needed, a refreshing healthy Ice Pop, a treat that won’t blow your whole day of healthy eating. While eating this yummy pop of cold heaven I asked Josh the owner for the backstory of Peace.Love.Pops.

What’s your name? Joshua

What is the story behind Peace.Love.Pops?  I started last year, this is our second season. I used to be a full time chef, 80 hours a week and I just got sick and tired of it. I was walking around New York City and saw an Ice Cream vendor and I wanted to take that product to a whole other level, make it home made, all natural, organic….actually something good for you. The next week, I went out and got a cart and just started the business. Our slogan is “Helping the world one pop at a time”, and a percentage of every Ice Pop sold is donated to a different charity each month.

We had a nutritionist analyze our pops and the results came back and said that there is barely any sugar… what we try to do is get most of our flavors from the fruit. There are alot of vitamins and good nutrition in our pops.

What’s this month charity? Well last month was the Liberty Humane Society, this is month we are doing a 5K event, which will be held at Liberty State Park and its for schools in Jersey City. 50% of our sales that day is going to them…

How do you come up with your flavor combinations? Well I have a background in culinary, I also used to be a pastry chef so I just kind of grab different fruits, herbs and spices and I just lay them all out and I come up with different ideas that way.

You should put some booze in some of your pops! Oh yeah, I am actually making some for myself!

Let me know when you do! We are going to start doing pop tails!

What’s your future plans? Well this year we are going to be up in Hudson county at a bunch of music festivals, art festivals and we want to take it to the next level and maybe get another cart and go down the shore next year….That is our next journey.

How many people work for Peace love and pops? Well I am the owner, I hired a few seasonal workers that I need a part time job.

Wait, how are you so skinny? I eat all these pops!

Tell me about the flavors you have now? Well we have Banana cream pie, which is one of our top sellers ; it’s creme anglaise base, fresh vanilla beans, organic non gmo milk, heavy cream, organic sugar cane juice and blended with Bananas and organic graham cracker in the center. We also have a Pineapple basil mojito, it’s just missing the rhum… We also have a strawberry lemonade which the kids love. We have Jersey Peach… the peaches are in season so we don’t need to add anything else.

Any new flavors coming soon? We have a pineapple jalapeño cilantro, which will be really good. A honeydew mint ginger… We will add some with watermelon.

Where do you make this? We have a commercial kitchen in Union City. I call it the ice pop  dungeon because you don’t know its there…

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