I add a few table spoons of vodka to keep the liquid from freezing too hard = less scraping
Is there something that can be substituted for the sugar in the
basic granita? Yes, there is sugar in the fruit, but that would
generally be acceptable. ( Besides you don't have to do fruit juice,
kyou could use something like coffee. )
I can use a sugar substitute like Splenda, but sugar doesn't just add sweetness, it decreases the freezing point and makes the mixture
thicker. I don't think Splenda would do that.
I'm not sure how substituting spleda will affect the freezing point, but if it doesn't lower it, they you can always add a little bit of vodka - just 1 Tbs. will make a difference to the texture without it being noticable in the final dessert.
When I was in Sicily, I tried some granita that had egg white added to it to alter the texture (not as coarse). Play around with it and let people know...
Dinner with friends last Friday began with a glass of cucumber/Gerwertztraminer Granita and it was delicious. It actually tasted more like melon that cucumber.
The hostess made a simple syrup of 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Added 1 cup Gerwertztraminer white wine and the 'juice' of 1 cucumber. She seeded the cucumber and peeled it. You could probably put the cucumber in a blender after peeling and seeding and run it through a sieve if you don't have a juicer. It was a lovely refreshing beginning to a delicious meal.
You could let your imagination go wild with fresh berries and fruit that is in season now.
What an easy and refreshing dish. I will have to come up with some different flavors for it. Hmmm..
As an easy way to present this, try cutting a pineapple in half, scraping out and pulping the flesh, which handily yields about 3 cups. Save the shells.
Prepare as per the recipe, then put granita into the shells to serve.
I like to eat coffee granitas along with brioche for breakfast durring hot summer months!
Great, great suggestions. I just made a version of granita and looked up a recipe afterwards. Processed frozen cranberries & frozen raspberries & poured red wine over. Guess what it lacked was the lemon and simple syrup.
I wish there was a way to print out the recipe (not the table) and comments in a Word doc...?
Hi, Thanks for the recipe, tried it yesterday .. it came out brilliant .. i tried it with a multivitamin juice i found at my local grocer .. it tastes like a fruit salad and it came out really good.. i added a tbsp of vodka as suggested here in comments .. dont know if it made a difference .. still i love vodka so why not ;)
I used 3 cups of cola instead of fruit juice. I'm hoping it turns out great. It's in the freezer right now.
I used 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup water and 3 cups cola. :)
I just wanted to say that I used Splenda because I didn't have sugar to make a Watermelon Granita and it turned out great.
Allow sugar and water to cool to room temperature. Pour three cups of orange juice or other fruit juice into the cooled syrup.
Pour mixture into 13 x 9 in. baking pan and place in freezer. I had to use an 8 x8 in. pan because all my 13 x 9 in. pans were in use. It takes about twice as long to freeze in an 8 x 8 in. pan.
Every twenty minutes (forty if using an 8 x 8 in. pan), take the pan out and scrape the frozen mixture with a fork until all the frozen pieces are broken into small shavings and mixed well with the remaining liquid. Continue to freeze. Scrape every twenty minutes until no more liquid is in the granita.
I like to serve the granita in a wine glass with some lemon zest and a sprig of mint on top.