When Benni Pops first hit the market, the Santa Cruz–based frozen novelty brand was known for something bold: combining functional mushrooms like lion’s mane and reishi with creamy, plant-based ingredients in a popsicle format. But as the brand evolved, founders Katie Sarna and Paul Lazazzera melted the brand’s original name—Shroomsicles—and refined its formulas. The result? Honey emerged as an unexpected hero ingredient that tied flavor, functionality and consumer appeal together.
“Flavor is always number one,” Sarna said. “The product has to taste good, right? Honey just worked best from a formulaic standpoint.”
Sticky Situations Solved
Wildflower honey, chosen for its accessible yet aromatic profile, anchors the product line. Its floral notes complement functional ingredients and plant-based bases while keeping overall costs in check compared to other high-end inclusions.
“The wildflower honey we chose has a beautiful herbal and floral quality with a strong, clean finish that complements every flavor in our popsicle lineup,” Sarna said.
Additionally, in the brand’s early formulation stages, white sugar “just sweetened to sweeten,” Sarna said. Other natural sweeteners didn’t deliver the desired balance or functionality. Honey, on the other hand, provided a rounded sweetness with prebiotic and probiotic properties, enhancing both taste and nutritional perception.
“We knew we wanted to make a cleaner treat without refined sugar, so honey was at the top of the list,” she said. “Honey adds depth and aromatics to our dessert, and its layered flavor profile brings more to the experience.”
More importantly, honey is a functional ingredient that folds nicely into Benni Pops’ beneficial ingredient mission. It’s adding more than sweetness: it’s bringing antioxidants, trace minerals and prebiotic benefits.
“For our recipe formulation/technical side: Honey’s mix of glucose and fructose lowers the freezing point, so it helps with the overall texture and creaminess of our popsicles and prevents them from being rock hard or too icy,” Sarna said. “This is super important because we aren’t using dairy in our recipes. Milk/heavy cream has different protein and fat structures than coconut milk, so that plays a role in how we dial it all in while using honey as our sweetener.”
Hive Meets Fungi Find
Benni Pops’ rebrand from Shroomsicles in 2024 was more than cosmetic. It represented a shift toward approachability and broadening appeal beyond functional food enthusiasts. “We realized that people who were already into mushrooms were going to pick it up,” Katie said. “But people who weren’t ready to try it weren’t going to. Even though we use mushroom extracts, our approach has always been flavor first, and ‘Oh, by the way, you’re getting some benefits tucked in there too.’ We want people to have an indulgent experience with the popsicle.”
In Benni Pops’ view, frozen desserts often swing too far in one direction. Either they’re a total sugar bomb or so “healthy” that they fail to satisfy that sweet tooth craving. Benni Pops is striking the balance between indulgence and better-for-you.
Now that the brand has evolved into Benni Pops, it’s easier to lead with joy and a strong emphasis on delicious flavors rather than being anchored or limited by the word “mushroom,” which once grabbed plenty of attention—though not always in the intended way. The brand has pivoted to weave functional benefits in as a secondary, almost, “Hey, you probably didn’t even realize” moment, especially since those ingredients can’t be tasted, rather than making them the lead story. Mushrooms remain an important part of the brand’s story, but no longer the front-and-center headline with flashing lights as before.
Cinnamon Roll and the Warm-Weather Crossover
One standout example is the Cinnamon Roll Benni Pop, launched to bridge what Sarna calls “the downtime of winter” in the frozen category. With its warm spice profile, the flavor connects to cozy seasonal cues while still delivering on the frozen treat experience. “It’s a warm, winter type of flavor,” she noted, adding that honey played a key role in bringing out the cinnamon’s natural depth and balancing the spice.
Mush-Room to Grow
As the company prepares for 2026, Benni Pops is resizing its molds for a smaller, more approachable pop at the $4.99 price point. “The current size was a lot of popsicle,” Sarna admitted. The shift is designed to appeal to both kids and adults while maintaining the brand’s premium positioning.
At the heart of Benni Pops’ story is the belief that better-for-you shouldn’t mean boring. By blending the natural benefits of honey with unexpected ingredients like functional mushrooms, the brand has rethought and retooled what frozen treats can be. It’s a reminder that R&D is always developing. It starts with curiosity, creativity and a desire to make something people feel good about eating. But it continues with listening to consumers and evolving yet staying true to the idea that got you to the development point to begin with. The future of frozen looks bright and a little more buzz-worthy.
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