Granita is a frozen dessert made with water and syrup, popular in Italy, especially Sicily. It can be served for breakfast or any time of day, with many regions offering unique flavors. It is related to Middle Eastern sherbet and is made by mixing water with flavoring and freezing, stirring every hour. Some regions make it harder and shave it, with popular flavors including coffee, bitter almond, lemon, mint, orange, and seasonal fruit. Bitter almond granita includes real bitter almonds, which are harmless when processed carefully.
Granita is a frozen dessert made with water and a syrup base, very similar to sherbet. It is popular in Italy and closely associated with Sicily in particular. In Italy, granita can be served for breakfast, with Italian brioche, or at any other time of day. Many regions of Italy offer specially flavored versions that use seasonal fruit or agricultural products unique to the area. Outside of Italy, it is found in Italian communities and can also be made at home relatively easily.
Like many other frozen desserts, granita is likely related to sherbet, a Middle Eastern drink made from syrup, water, and ice. According to legends, granita was invented by accident by a sherbet seller who left his wares on the ice for too long, causing them to become a highly granular block of ice. Whatever the origin, the dessert is made by mixing water with a flavoring and then placing it in a freezer. Every hour or so, the mixture is taken out of the freezer and stirred with a spatula, integrating any crystals on top into the mixture. The result is a flaky granular container of flavored ice. For the follow-at-home cooks, slushy can easily be made in a baking pan and plated in the kitchen so no guest will be able to guess its humble origins.
In some regions, slush is made harder and is designed to be shaved. It should not, however, be confused with shaved ice. Shaved ice is made with rainwater syrup or a flavoring on a plate of ice that has been shaved from a block. When making slush, the flavoring is blended into the ice, and even when shaved, it has a crackling crystal structure that is quite distinctive in the mouth. While it may seem strange to eat dessert for breakfast, when combined with a breakfast pastry, it’s actually quite refreshing.
Popular slush flavors include coffee, bitter almond, lemon, mint, orange, and seasonal fruit and berries. The bitter almond granita made in Italy is unique, because it includes real bitter almonds, which have traces of cyanide. Bitter almonds are harmless, with careful processing, and add a unique flavor to foods in which they are used. Many popular European foods with almonds, such as marzipan, have a distinctive flavor due to the use of bitter almonds. The lemons used in the dessert are also different, as they are smaller and sweeter, like Meyer lemons. Imagination is the only limit to aromas, inside and outside Italy.
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