Best. Popsicle. Ever.

I’m a certified ice-cream fiend and eat it almost daily (hello, Haagen Dazs). So I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by a mere popsicle. But on a yacht charter through the British Virgin Islands last summer, it was love at first bite. We’d motored over to Tortola’s Trellis Bay so our crew could pick up a few supplies at the convenience store. I’m not one for supermarkets but I tagged along because hey, you never know when a shopportunity will present itself, right? But it wasn’t until we were leaving that I decided to grab something from the freezer and happened upon a tower of Nestle La Frutta bars stacked in the corner. The strawberry and coconut flavors whispered my name but it was the Caribbean Mixed Fruit that eventually seduced me with its promise of passionfruit, pineapple and mango chunks sweetened with flakes of coconut.

I ripped off the cellophane wrapper, exposing the “quiescently frozen confection” to the beating BVI sun, which instantly made it start sweating a sweet river of fruit-filled goodness down my hand and forearm. But my teeth, tongue and lips quickly went to work, biting into the icy brick, savoring the fruity pulp and lapping up the spillage that formed a sticky bracelet around my wrist. The fruit tasted as if it had actually ripened naturally, the frozen chips refreshed me as they melted their way down my throat, and I immediately knew that I’d be searching out the made-in-the-U.S.-but-distributed-from-Puerto-Rico pop the moment I got home.

“110 calories and 0% fat,” the wrapper boasted. But, alas, only 20% of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin C. No problem; I’ll take five.