Return of the Lemon Stick!




Pretty darned simple, right?

 When I was in Rogers Forge Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, each year they would hold the most awesome spring festival ever called, the "May Mart."  It was at the end of the school year and it was the most unbelievable day of your entire school year.  I remember getting small brown bags with red string licorice, winning a baggie with a goldfish in it, riding a roller coaster, listening to dixieland music, pit beef, but most of all I remember the Lemon Stick.  What I thought was a global movement, however, appears to be confined to a small population of people in Baltimore.   (However, my wife does remember them at her field day at Norfolk Academy, in Virginia.)  The last time I had one was in elementary school...what has become of this world!  Been thinking of them recently and decided to take matters into my own hands.

The Lemon Stick is probably one of the simplest, and most refreshing treats of summer time.  You will agree, especially when you taste it.

A lemon stick is nothing more than a large lemon that you slice (either in half or open at one end) and skewer with an old-fashioned, porous peppermint stick. You hold the lemon with one hand and jam the stick in the lemon and pull it out and lick or suck on the stick embedded covered in citrousy delight and it produces a puckery, cooling sensation in your mouth.  After a while the lemon juice can be pulled up through the porous peppermint stick.

Do not mistake the candy in the middle with a standard candy cane...it is not.  There is a different, soft, type of minty candy sometime called sugar sticks.  There are only a few manufacturers of them that I can find and they all appear to be "old fashion" or "nostalgic".  The brands you need to get are from Bob's Sweet Stripes Soft Mint Candy Sticks or King Leo's Soft Peppermint Sticks.  I found them both online, but I got them from http://www.groovycandies.com/.  The website said they were out of stock, but when I called they checked for me and had them and shipped them to me in 2 days.

Both of my kids, first eyed them with the look of "what in the world has dad got us into".  Then they tasted them and said, "this is good."  They are right...this is very good."  Prepare to be a little bit sticky, from both the stick and the lemon...but that it part of it.

 Ingredients:

• Whole lemons
• Bob's Sweet Stripes Soft Mint Candy 

Directions:

1.  Cut top of of lemon, just enough to expose inside.

2.  Roll lemon to soften inside.

3.  Press sugar stick into lemon.

4.  Stand back and see what happens...make sure you have already set yours aside!

5.  You can even cut a sliver off of the bottom to make it flat, if you want your lemon stick to be able to stand on its own.  (It is helpful when you are typing your blog, although the keyboard is kind of sticky!)