The best ice-cream, or gelato, of your life might seem like a silly reason to visit Italy but it's really a rather legitimate one. You will genuinely be hard pressed to find ice-cream anywhere else in the world which is even half as good. However, there's another delicious chilled treat that Italy has to offer which you may not have heard of. Granita is a flavoured iced dish which comes in a wide variety of flavours and is not unlike sorbet but has a rougher texture, almost like a slush puppy or snow cone. You can try the dessert outside of Italy and all over the country itself but it originated in Sicily and is still most popular and varied there. The refreshing lemon version is the one most well-known outside of Italy but in Sicily you'll find traditional Sicilian flavours like strawberry, mulberry, peach and almond. Its origins probably stretch back to Roman times, as with gelato, though it was later widely popularised by the Arabs. Find a luxury villa in Sicily and try it on a warm afternoon while taking in the breath-taking scenery
Ingredients:
Note: The cup size doesn't matter here so much as the portions relative to each other. Think of it rather as “one part” fruit to “four parts” water.
1 cup of chopped and crushed fruit (including juice)
1 cup of white granulated refined sugar
4 cups of water
Method:
1. Chop and crush the fruit. An electric blender is practical for this.
2. Heat the sugar in two cups of water over medium-low flame for a few minutes, until the mixture is completely liquid and the sugar dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and place into a bowl. Allow to cool.
4. Add the remaining water and the crushed fruit.
5. Freeze for about forty minutes, then remove to thoroughly mix the granita with a large fork or other heavy utensil before replacing it in the freezer.
6. As its name implies, the dessert should be "granulated." Continue to remove it to quickly mix it and replace it in the freezer for further freezing every twenty minutes.
7. The preparation phase should require about two hours, depending on the temperature in the freezer. You want to avoid the granita forming into heavy lumps or a block. The texture should resemble grains or flakes. The mixing method is the most important phase of preparation, as the granita should be granular, almost like a slush puppy or snow cone. but not liquid.
Once you've tried this typical Sicilian dessert, you'll be dying for a holiday in Sicily where you can try the real thing in the most authentic of settings.
Note: The cup size doesn't matter here so much as the portions relative to each other. Think of it rather as “one part” fruit to “four parts” water.
1 cup of chopped and crushed fruit (including juice)
1 cup of white granulated refined sugar
4 cups of water
Method:
1. Chop and crush the fruit. An electric blender is practical for this.
2. Heat the sugar in two cups of water over medium-low flame for a few minutes, until the mixture is completely liquid and the sugar dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and place into a bowl. Allow to cool.
4. Add the remaining water and the crushed fruit.
5. Freeze for about forty minutes, then remove to thoroughly mix the granita with a large fork or other heavy utensil before replacing it in the freezer.
6. As its name implies, the dessert should be "granulated." Continue to remove it to quickly mix it and replace it in the freezer for further freezing every twenty minutes.
7. The preparation phase should require about two hours, depending on the temperature in the freezer. You want to avoid the granita forming into heavy lumps or a block. The texture should resemble grains or flakes. The mixing method is the most important phase of preparation, as the granita should be granular, almost like a slush puppy or snow cone. but not liquid.
Once you've tried this typical Sicilian dessert, you'll be dying for a holiday in Sicily where you can try the real thing in the most authentic of settings.