In Trinidad it is always hot, save for the rainy season, and sometimes it gets so hot that you need something to cool down after spending some time in the stinging sun. We have quite a few ways to do just that. For the adults, a cold beer or some other cold beverage and for the children we have soft drinks, juices and a few frozen treats .
Locally, when it comes to frozen treats we have penacool, commercial lollies, sno-cone, ice block and then there is the traditional “Sucker-Bag”. The owners of small shops or “palours” made this to sell long time; I don’t see it selling as much nowadays. In a sense it may well be the grandfather of frozen desserts on the island. Anyhow, I did not get much of the commercial lollies while growing up, so this was my favorite frozen dessert (you see at one time we had a little parlour and my mother made these to sell ! ). This frozen dessert is still enjoyed by children (and children at heart) in Trinidad and Tobago.
The coconut could be substituted with vanilla, or any other flavour desired (I once tasted a rum and raisin flavour and a Guinness flavour sucker bag). The only obstacle is your imagination.
“SUCKER-BAG”- COCONUT FLAVOUR
8 cupswater (for the custard)
5 cupswater (for coconut)
2 tins(395 g)condensed milk
1 tin(410 g)evaporated milk
2-3 tbspmixed essence
2 mediumsized coconuts
¾ cups(100g)custard powder
1 tspsalt
1½-2 cupsbrown sugar
1. Boil the custard in water and leave to cool.
2. Chop and blend the coconut in water until fine.
3. Strain the coconut and retain the water for the recipe.
4. Stir together coconut milk, condense milk, and evaporated milk.
5. Stir, well, the custard into the milk.
6. Stir in the mixed essence, salt and brown sugar to taste.
7. Strain the custard and milk mixture.
8. Pour into 1/2 lb clear bags and tie securely. Store in the refrigerator until frozen.
This recipe will yields 32 small bags.
When you’re done making “sucker bag” you have the opportunity to try other coconut recipes from this blog. So don’t throw away the grated coconut. You can use it to make sweet bread or coconut bake.
Well that’s all for now until next time.
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Hey- a couple weeks ago someone asked me on flickr for a recipe for this, and as I am not yet a custard maker, I was to ask my mother. So now I have forwarded them to this post!
Thanks for the comment. I do hope you become a custard maker and try out this recipe:^)
Wow! That’s a lovely idea and recipe! In my country, we have something like that but in thinner plastic tubes- about 1 foot long. The bag would be filled up with anything, from syrups to fruity juice. Tied up the open ends into knots and frozen like popsicles. To eat or ‘suck’ the plastic popsicles, we bite the either ends off
Sure bring back childhood memories 
We also have something similar to what you have. We call it penna cool and it tastes just as delicious. What do you call yours?
Wow, that sounds like an advanced version of what is called “boli” here!
I even found a photo here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Barranquilla_-_Boli.jpg
Here it’s mainly frozen fruit juice, but there is also with chocolate flavor.
Anyway, as I have been living here only for two and a half years, there might still be lots of flavors that I don’t know
Something that is also very popular here is “shaved ice”, do you have it in Trinidad?
Foehre sucker bag comes in many varied flavours here in Trinidad and Tobago. One of my favourites is rum and raisin; it just hits the spot every time.
Yes we do have shaved ice here also be we call it Sno cone. I like my sno cone with some condensed milk in it!
wow! thanks felix i’m really loving this post.
OR SUGAR CAKE
I would like to try Peanut, Guiness and Rum and raisin do I still have to use custard.
Basically those are like a punch that you freeze ,so no you won’t have to use custard. Check out my posts for peanut punch and guinness punch for some ideas.
For the guinness you could leave out the egg.
Does the same principle apply for say Sour sop as well? Also I believe there was a pink/red, yellow and a green flavor how do you go about those?
I believe the soursop will work but the measurements I will have to work out. As for the different colours it is just a matter of using different food colouring. Thank you for the comment.
My pleasure thanks Felix I anxiously await the feedback
I’ll have to get a soursop first
Since I first came to New York I have yet to see one myself or pretty much any other so called exotic fruits