Page 42 - Fiji Traveller Issue 3

Perfect popsicles

Tasty Island Treats Fiji

During the hottest months in Fiji, sometimes all you want to fresh coconuts and used to have two lines of popsicles, one
eat is something cool and sweet. Tasty Island Treats Fiji can coconut cream-based and the other coconut water-based."
satisfy that craving and help you revisit the simple childhood joy Tasty Island Treats Fiji has been operating for five years and
of enjoying an iced popsicle. its flavour options are wide; Irvin has introduced more than 130
Tasty Island Treats Fiji was founded by Nakita Irvin, who was flavours over that time depending on the seasonal availability of
inspired by her husband's love for ice cream. ingredients.
"I was working at GIZ [German development agency Deutsche There are five core flavours available all year around: toasted
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit] for almost four coconut, chocolate brownie, chocolate, watermelon cream, and
years in the development sector, and I didn’t like the corporate pineapple lemonade, alongside two specialty flavours, masala
life; I wanted to do my own thing and be my own boss." chai and golden milk.
Irvin is a big foodie and spent some time trying to decide what Seasonal variations include mango creme, mint, passionfruit,
gastronomic route to take. Initially she considered opening a banana, pineapple, soursop, kumquat, mandarin and guava
restaurant but wanted to do something “completely different.” lemonade, and their many combinations.
“My husband is obsessed with ice cream, and before he Irvin is always experimenting, and other elements to make it
married me, he was working in an ice cream shop in LA… so into the popsicles include basil, starfruit, local berries (lobi lobi),
he knew the process of how to make ice cream. And I thought dragonfruit and iced tea.
yes, we need a proper ice cream shop in Fiji. We started The pops are available at markets from the very cute Tasty
experimenting; he was helping me at first with a dairy-based ice Island Treats Fiji popsicle bike, at supermarkets such as Kundan
cream, and then we quickly realised that the dairy supply is really Singh, and at the Wyndham resort, where they have been
inconsistent in Fiji.” incorporated into extra special cocktails. Look out for their pop-
This realisation prompted Irvin to reconsider her approach. ups on their Facebook page as well.
Sourcing local ingredients was important, as was a product that
avoided artificial ingredients. Tasty Island Treats Fiji
" I quickly experimented with fresh coconuts; we would scrape

42 42