Ice Pops Without the Guilt
Meet Fairyella, the tooth fairy who inspired a line of frozen pops made from organic fruits and veggies. “The pops are real food,” says creator and Benicia mom Kimberli Haris, who sources the produce from Capay Organic and makes the pops using less than five grams of sugar and no added stabilizers, dyes,
or preservatives.
Haris named the brand to honor her mother, Martha Haris, who invented the character Fairyella when her daughter was six years old and waiting to lose her first tooth. Throughout her childhood, Kimberli left notes and goodies for Fairyella, and the tooth fairy returned the favors. Haris and her mom also wrote seven stories in rhyme featuring Fairyella and her faithful companion Dragonfly Floyd.
It was in 2009 that Haris began blending vegan juices for her mom, who had been diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. Haris credits the nutritious juices with helping her mother live far longer than doctors had predicted. In 2010, when her infant son was teething, Haris experimented with freezing the juices, and by 2014 she was freezing them in bags to make a treat modeled after the popular Otter Pops. Other parents were enthusiastic, and Haris started selling her pops at the Benicia Farmers’ Market, leading to a contact at Whole Foods that resulted in a contract.
With help from her photographer husband, Luke George, Haris makes the pops in four flavors: Orange, Green Monster, Watermelon, and Lavender Lemonade. They’re Certified Vegan and on the shelves of many Whole Foods Markets, including in Oakland, Walnut Creek, and Berkeley’s Gilman store. After her mom’s death, Haris was able to fulfill her mother’s wish by publishing The Adventures of Fairyella the Tooth Fairy and Dragonfly Floyd. Haris sells the book at the Benicia Farmers’ Market and online.
What’s next for Fairyella? Haris is dreaming big and working to get her pops into local schools and hospitals, where they could replace items like the high-fructose-corn-syrup- and blue-dye-tinged ice pop that hospital staff gave her son when he had his tonsils out. Another wish: upping the ante on nutrition for Mickey Mouse and friends by bringing Fairyella to Disneyland!
Check out fairyellaicepops.com for upcoming demos and more places to buy the pops.
—Rachel Trachten
Edible East Bay’s associate editor Rachel Trachten writes about food, cooking, and gardens as tools for education and social change. She takes time out from magazine work for choral singing. View her stories at racheltrachten.contently.com and get in touch at rachel(at)edibleeastbay.com.