It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

photo by Kevin Keeker

No, I’m not talking about Christmas or any holiday, despite snagging this post’s title from a secular carol. I’m talking about developing new lollipop flavors!

Unlike a calendar-based holiday or event, we can do this whenever and however often we like. Right now we’re working on a new Fruit Basket – a trio of fruit-based flavors that we hope to start selling in April.

Our process is roughly what you might expect. Kate & I brainstorm flavor ideas all year long and keep a big list of them. Then we do a little more focused brainstorming before kicking off a phase of making edible samples.

I’ll make several small batches (small = 12 lollipops) and pass out the pops to whatever friends and neighbors are available and interested to give feedback. And of course I mail some to Kate. I gather the feedback, make changes to the recipes, and make more pops. Sometimes I make more new flavors along the way. The feedback keeps rolling in and that helps us narrow down the flavors to the best-liked ones.

This time, it’s taken 3 tasting rounds to narrow 10 candidate flavors down to the best ones. I anticipate another round of iteration focused on refining those recipes to their absolute best. And soon, we’ll be able to let you know what flavors to expect in the Fruit Basket!