Prehistoric Pudding Pops!

If you are an American of a certain age, summer is known to bring on wistful cravings for that cool and creamy '80s treat, Jell-O Pudding Pops! (Summer may also bring about the desire to wear neon jams with jelly shoes that will turn your feet into a mass of blisters within the hour, but now I'm getting off topic....) Despite occasional comebacks, the treats are mostly a do-it-yourself affair today. Since most people think the pops are an invention of the '80s or maybe late '70s at best, they don't realize that we are actually in the same do-it-yourself territory as people in the '60s.

Yes, the 1968 "Jell-O Pudding Ideabook" has this:

A prehistoric pudding pop! Note the primitive triangular shape that would subtly taper to a trapezoid in the '80s before rapidly evolving to a more traditional tube-like ice pop shape in the 21st century. This specimen is officially called a "Frozen Fudge Pop," but I know it's a direct ancestor of a pudding pop!

So how did '60s families get their frozen pudding fix?

In those ancient times, there were apparently no options for vanilla (who cares?) or the swirl (now that's the tragedy) unless the cook was willing to go off-recipe. BUT there was the "Frozen Fudge Sandwiches" option-- housing pudding filling within graham cracker walls-- that more than makes up for any shortcomings.

Plus, if pudding pops weren't quite enough for ice cream lovers, there was always this option:

I would have been so crazy for Butterscotch Nut Pudding Ice Cream and Chocolate Almond Pudding Ice Cream that I'm not sure I would even have noticed the Frozen Fudge Pops if I had been around to judge them in a head-to-head matchup.... Somehow, that feels a bit like treason, but I know it to be true. Please judge me mercifully.