Granita

Granita

An almond-flavored granita with brioche
Alternative names	Granita siciliana
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	Italy
Region or state	Sicily
Main ingredients	Sugar, water, flavoring
Cookbook: Granita  Media: Granita

Granita (pronounced [ɡraˈniːta]; in Italian also granita siciliana^[1] [ɡraˈniːta sitʃiˈljaːna]) is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings. Originally from Sicily, it is available all over Italy in somewhat different forms. It is related to sorbet and Italian ice; however, in most of Sicily, it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet.^[2] This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals. Although its texture varies from coarse to smooth, it is always different from that of ice cream, which is creamier, and from that of sorbet, which is more compact; this makes granita distinct and unique.

Ingredients

Tris di granite (trio of granitas) with strawberry, mandarin and almond flavors.

Common and traditional flavoring ingredients include lemon juice, mandarin oranges, jasmine, coffee, almonds, mint, and when in season wild strawberries and black mulberries. Chocolate granitas have a tradition in the city of Catania and, according to Steingarten, nowhere else in Sicily. The nuances of the Sicilian ingredients are important to the flavor of the finished granita: Sicilian lemons are a less acidic, more floral variety similar to Meyer lemons, while the almonds used contain some number of bitter almonds, crucial to the signature almond flavor.

Serving conventions

Granita with coffee is very common in the city of Messina, while granita with almonds is popular in the city of Catania. Granita in combination with a yeast pastry called brioche is a common breakfast in summer time (the Sicilian brioche is generally flatter and wider than the French version).

Granita is often found served as a slush-type drink rather than a dessert, in a paper or plastic cup with a plastic lid and a straw (often a spoon straw).

Granita, made with savory ingredients or less sugar than the dessert, is often served between courses of a meal as a palate cleanser.

See also

• Italian ice
• Snow cone
• Gelato

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Granita.