Granita al Limone, Sicilian Lemon Granita
Granita is the Sicilian ice eaten through the hot months, and lemon is its plainest and best form. There is no machine and no cream involved, just juice and water frozen slowly and raked with a fork into fine crystals. The only change here is the sweetener: instead of sugar, dates blended and strained into a clear syrup, which carries the same sweetness with the fruit behind it. Everything rides on the lemon, so use real juice, not bottled, and taste the mix before it freezes, since cold mutes both sweet and sour. The raking every half hour is the work, and it is what keeps the ice loose. Eat it the day you make it.
Ingredients
- 6 Lemons, juiced, about 1 cup (240 ml)
- 5 Medjool dates, pitted
Method
- Blend the pitted dates with 1 cup (240 ml) of hot water until completely smooth, then pour through a fine sieve, pressing the solids, to make a clear date syrup. Straining leaves the sweetness behind but takes out the pulp that would otherwise freeze grainy.
- Stir the date syrup together with the lemon juice and another 1.5 cups (360 ml) of cold water. Taste it: it should be a touch sweeter and sharper than you want the ice to be, since freezing dulls both. Adjust with a little more water or lemon.
- Pour into a wide, shallow metal pan and set it flat in the freezer. A shallow pan freezes fast and gives you more surface to scrape, which is what keeps the crystals fine.
- After 30 minutes, when ice starts forming at the edges, drag a fork through it to break the ice into flakes. Repeat every 30 minutes for about 3 hours, raking the frozen parts in each time. This regular scraping is the whole technique: it is what makes granita a loose pile of crystals instead of a solid block.
- Serve it the day you make it, scraped into chilled glasses. Granita is at its best fresh and fluffy, so if it sets hard overnight, let it soften a few minutes and rake it again before serving.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 90 calories, 1 g protein, 2 g fiber, 5 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
