Vero Beach, Fla.--Frozen vegan vegetarian pops can be delicious and healthy. They are exceptional if they are made by Michael Haggerty, owner of Hero Pops and Pond Yum. His dairy-free, gluten-free, and processed-sugar-free pops come in a variety of styles and flavors. Many contain Florida grown ingredients. The Pond Yum style contains the vegetarian protein superfood Spirulina.
The frozen pop idea was born four years ago when his, then eight, turned vegan vegetarian after seeing the movie Food Inc. Haggerty became concerned about his son's vitamin and mineral intake because he did not like leafy greens.
So Haggerty started experimenting with frozen fruit pop recipes that contained spinach. The first pop he made was a cinnamon green smoothie with spinach, orange juice, pineapple chunks, Stevia, and guar gum. His son loved it.
Haggerty was born in Boca Raton, Florida, into a real estate company family. He worked for them as a residential painter for many years until he started worrying about the effects of the chemicals on his and his son's body. Five members of his birth family had cancer and three of them were children.
He went out on a limb and quit his painting job so he could turn his passion into a career as a frozen pop maker. He was drawn to protein-rich spirulina because of its anti-cancer properties as well as its ability to remove toxins.
"Most protein is trapped in cellulose and with spirulina it is not, resulting in a whopping 97 percent bio-availability," Haggerty said during a recent interview. He uses flash frozen live spirulina, grown in Vero Beach, in his Pond Yum pops and boosters because he said, "Dry spirulina tastes like a shoe."
The Pond Yum pops contain 25 percent spirulina and the boosters contain 100 percent. Haggerty's Mum tried one pop a day for 30 days and felt an increase in energy and better health.
The vegan Hero Pops got their name from his business location, "It used to be a comic book shop," he said, with a smile,"I thought my pops would be more popular with children if they had a name that reminded them of comic books."
"I went to Pop university in Boynton and learned how to make pops with that," he said pointing to a stainless steel machine in the corner of his 12 by 20 foot inspected agricultural commercial kitchen. Even though his kitchen was small he could still produce 1940 pops a day.
Haggerty started out selling his pops at Green Markets. There he noticed something, "Often parents didn't think kids would eat a pop that was green, and so they would steer their kids to buy another pop when they came to my booth. But if they gave their kids the money and told them to go get their own pops, the kids would invariably choose the green ones and like them."
Now he sells his biodegradable packaged pops exclusively at retail stores on the Treasure Coast. In the future he plans to sell them Statewide.
Some of his past and present flavors are Grapefruit Mint, Pistachio Lavender, Cinnamon Green Smoothie, Pumpkin Praline Pecan, and Orange Dreamsicle.
To learn more about Pond Yum pops you can call Michael Haggerty at 772-202-2393 or go to his FaceBook pages
Pond Yum www.facebook.com/pondyum
Updated 2016
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| Michael Haggerty of Hero Pops, Tequesta Green Market, Fla. picture taken Feb 2013, |
So Haggerty started experimenting with frozen fruit pop recipes that contained spinach. The first pop he made was a cinnamon green smoothie with spinach, orange juice, pineapple chunks, Stevia, and guar gum. His son loved it.
Haggerty was born in Boca Raton, Florida, into a real estate company family. He worked for them as a residential painter for many years until he started worrying about the effects of the chemicals on his and his son's body. Five members of his birth family had cancer and three of them were children.
He went out on a limb and quit his painting job so he could turn his passion into a career as a frozen pop maker. He was drawn to protein-rich spirulina because of its anti-cancer properties as well as its ability to remove toxins.
"Most protein is trapped in cellulose and with spirulina it is not, resulting in a whopping 97 percent bio-availability," Haggerty said during a recent interview. He uses flash frozen live spirulina, grown in Vero Beach, in his Pond Yum pops and boosters because he said, "Dry spirulina tastes like a shoe."
The Pond Yum pops contain 25 percent spirulina and the boosters contain 100 percent. Haggerty's Mum tried one pop a day for 30 days and felt an increase in energy and better health.
The vegan Hero Pops got their name from his business location, "It used to be a comic book shop," he said, with a smile,"I thought my pops would be more popular with children if they had a name that reminded them of comic books."
"I went to Pop university in Boynton and learned how to make pops with that," he said pointing to a stainless steel machine in the corner of his 12 by 20 foot inspected agricultural commercial kitchen. Even though his kitchen was small he could still produce 1940 pops a day.
Haggerty started out selling his pops at Green Markets. There he noticed something, "Often parents didn't think kids would eat a pop that was green, and so they would steer their kids to buy another pop when they came to my booth. But if they gave their kids the money and told them to go get their own pops, the kids would invariably choose the green ones and like them."
Now he sells his biodegradable packaged pops exclusively at retail stores on the Treasure Coast. In the future he plans to sell them Statewide.
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| Hero Pops & Pond Yum flavors, Tequesta Green Market, Fla, picture taken Feb 2013 |
To learn more about Pond Yum pops you can call Michael Haggerty at 772-202-2393 or go to his FaceBook pages
Pond Yum www.facebook.com/pondyum
Updated 2016
I love Hero Pops. This is a very interesting article about a really delicious treat.
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