Ono Pops

Made in Hawaii: Ono Pops

In Hawaii, we love a cold, sweet treat on a hot day... and there's a company that wants to tickle your taste buds with popsicles, made from all locally sourced ingredients. Our Made in Hawaii series takes us to Kalihi, inside the cold freezers at Ono Pops... where their commitment to buying local is 100%!


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10Best: Frozen pops put exotic flavors on a stick

You’ll find this island-based purveyor’s pops at farmers markets and retail outlets across the Aloha state. The tropical flavors reflect Asian and Hawaiian culture, with offerings like green tea, pineapple li hing (a Chinese salty plum), starfruit lemongrass, Kona latte, and strawberry Maui goat cheese. They have access to have such great high-quality fruits, teas and coffee. They create the experience of Hawaiian cuisine and taste in a frozen pop.

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Delicious OnoPops products are 100% local, natural and affordable

It's Summer time in Hawaii and what better way to cool off than with OnoPops! The local company celebrates its fifth anniversary in business, proving you really can make a product out of 100% local, natural stuff that people want to support and can afford. They are also proud to introduce some exciting products beyond pops - the new Li Hing Powder, which is now at every Foodland store in the state. If you want local, support local and eat local with OnoPops!


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These Hawaiian Popsicles Are Unlike Anything You Can Get Elsewhere

While most of us are trying to be conscious about eating local and organic foods like kale and swiss chard, a company in Hawaii has figured out how to make dessert the best way to take the "eat local" challenge. The whole point of OnoPops, according to co-founder Josh Lanthier-Welch, is "to put a happy face on eating local."

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Ono Awards

Whole Foods Market Hawai'i announces the winners of its inaugural 'ONO Awards, spotlighting the local producers and suppliers who best embody Whole Foods Market’s mission and core values. The awards, which are the creative brainchild of Whole Foods Market Kahala marketing supervisor Dabney Gough, were presented at Whole Foods Market’s SPROUT Hawai'i

Partner of the Year
Selected for exemplifying collaborative win-win partnerships outlined in Whole Foods Market’s core values.

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Notes from the Road: Eating My Way Across Oahu

Most people go to Oahu for the beaches, but Condé Nast Traveler editor Debi Dunn had other priorities: The food, including barbecue, plate lunches and all sorts of other snacks and dishes in Hawaii.

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Poppin' Up

"Anything you want to try?" he called out, pointing to a board with a long list of flavors using local and organic ingredients, including crackseed lemon peel, ume Thai basil and pineapple li hing. Not your typical flavor for palentas, a Mexican-style frozen ice pop.

Then again, Lanthier-Welch isn't trying to be typical.

"I love the quality of fruit and botanicals we use, " says Lanthier-Welch, who runs OnoPops with his brother, Joe Welch. "And I love the process of coming up with new flavors."

What makes these gourmet frozen treats even more alluring is that while you can find OnoPops at about two dozen shops and grocery stores across the state, you can only get its spcialty flavors — right now he's got more than 60 different flavors, 25 of which are in rotation at any one time — at farmer's markets or special events.

Once you commit to a brick-and-mortar space, you'll be the same experience every time. Even your best customers won't go once a week," Lanthier-Welch says. "For us, our hardcore fans wouldn't show up every day if we had a retail space. But they're at the farmer's markets, buying a 10-pack. The pop-up model guarantees they show up when we show up."

Top 29 dining spots of Hawaii: OnoPops, at farmers' markets and Whole Foods

These haute popsicles, developed by brothers Joe Welch and Josh Lanthier-Welch, come in flavors reminiscent of their Oahu childhood, as well as tastes of the moment: Liliko'i Cheescake, Salted Watermelon, Tangpur Mojito (with Kona limes, Maui rum, raw can, and North Shore Mint), and Pineapple Li Hing (with OnoPop's own li hing sweet-salty spice blend). A new flavor is added just about every week. The day we discovered the pops, we ate four.

20 Things We Love About Hawaii … Right Now: OnoPops

Let’s start with just a few flavors of these totally handmade Hawaii cures for the common paleta. Papaya Rangpur Vanilla. Kula Strawberry Maui Goat Cheese. Kona Latte. Guava Chiffon. Pineapple Li Hing. Mango Habanero Lime. And my own personal current OnoPop obsession: Surinam Cherry and Clove.

Nearly all of OnoPops paletas are made from fresh, Hawaii-procured ingredients, with a cheeky nod toward resident tastebuds trained on the multicultural-inspired flavors of the Islands. No wonder brothers Josh and Joe Welch had us at first lick.

The OnoPops pictured above? From left to right: Gingatanical, P to the O to the G, Strawberry Lemonade, Pineapple Li Hing and Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie.

The brothers Welch admit to tinkering in the kitchen sometimes for days to perfect their endlessly inventive OnoPop flavors.

A Caramel Shoyu paleta. Don’t knock it ‘till you’ve tried it.

The Best of Honolulu 2011: Food

OnoPops are poised to be the Next Big Dessert, as brothers Joe and Josh Welch take the childhood standard into foodie territory: Think strawberry goat cheese, caramel shoyu (tastes like salted caramel) and Kona latte. Using only local ingredients, the flavors are super-local, too—there’s nothing Mainland about crackseed lemon peel and pineapple li hing mui. “They’re a great vehicle for local products,” says Joe, a Hawai‘i Kai firefighter by day. Pops are made with fresh and seasonal ingredients, so don’t expect mango honey cream year-round. And li hing lovers rejoice! They make the powder themselves; it’s organic and for sale soon on its own. Available at Whole Foods, Kalapawai Market by the beach and various farmer’s markets.

Lick this

“The world divides into two categories,” Joshua Welch proclaims as he hands guava-tamarind popsicles to the pack of eager 8-year-olds crowding around his farmers market booth. “Light and delicious or rich and creamy. Fortunately we offer both.”

Last summer O‘ahu brothers Joshua and Joe set out to fulfill a locavore’s dream: to combine the tropical flavors of Hawai‘i with the art of Mexican paletas. The result was OnoPops, an organic popsicle of oddball flavors like butter mochi, pineapple li hing and apple banana cream pie.

The origins of the modern popsicle can be traced back to 1940s street vendors in Tocumbo, Michoacán on Mexico’s Pacific coast. “Paleta” is Spanish for “little stick,” and unlike the mass-produced, chemically enhanced American popsicle, OnoPops’ handmade beauties are individually crafted from the freshest ingredients. “We get all our ingredients straight from local farms, so you taste the quality immediately.” Joe boasts. “We try to keep our pops as pure and healthy as possible.” Their lychee pop, for instance, consists of only two ingredients: lychee and water.

Still, the process of creating the perfect paleta is labor-intensive, requiring a Wonkaesque imagination. Some popsicles involve over a dozen steps, from chopping fruit to blending, baking, folding and freezing. The result is deliciously simple, with each flavor striking a do-re-mi across the palate, like those in their popular water-melon gazpacho pop: fresh-cut watermelon, cucumber and a spicy cayenne finish.

The brothers Welch have concocted over thirty-six flavors, and they’re always freezing up exotic new combinations based on what’s seasonal. Ume-Thai basil, Kona latte and mango-habanero are among the favorites. And while they peddle theirheat-relief treats for $3 a pop from a vintage pushcart, they dream of soon opening a storefront paletería like the ones you find in any town plaza in Mexico.

Top of the Pops

Inspired by Mexican paletas, US artisans are creating fresh corn ice pops.
OnoPops, the Honolulu company makes a Kahuku ice pop from sweet corn grown on Oahu.