A few years ago I was served a grapefruit granita between courses and it was the perfect refreshing burst of citrus to clean the palate. Granita is an Italian {specifically, Sicilian} invention but it is closely related to shaved ice, gelato and other icy treats. It is essentially frozen fruit juice. Made with minimally sweetened fruit juice it is a lighter alternative to ice cream or sorbet. Depending on the region, it can be smooth like gelato {produced in a gelato machine} or coarse with larger ice crystals {whisked by hand}.
It is surprisingly simple to make. The key to making granita is to agitate the ice crystals by beating them vigorously with a whisk or a spoon, breaking down the large ice chunks into soft, fluffy ice crystals. You can sweeten the grapefruit juice to taste or leave it unsweetened for a mouth-puckering citrus treat. Grapefruit is refreshing any time of year but it turns out that this beautiful pink granita is perfect for Valentine’s Day!
- Grapefruits, juiced
- Sugar, to taste
- Place a 9x13-inch pan in the freezer.
- Juice the grapefruits.
- Sweeten the fruit juice to taste with sugar or leave it unsweetened.
- Pour the fruit juice into the chilled pan and place it in the freezer.
- Check the juice between 15-30 minutes {time will vary depending on the thickness of the juice} and stir the juice once it starts to freeze to the sides of the pan.
- Return the pan to the freezer and repeat the process, periodically stirring the juice vigorously with a whisk to beat the ice and break it down into soft crystals.
- When the granita has formed into soft, fluffy ice crystals serve it immediately or store it in a sealed container.
