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Granita

Mango Granita. Photo: Aya Brackett

BY Mark Bittman

PUBLISHED July 17, 2024

Granita is a no-special-equipment-needed, minimal-effort dessert that can be made of almost any juice or other liquid imaginable. Use any strongly flavored liquid, or any sorbet recipe or variation; figure about 2 cups total before freezing. Add a splash or 2 of vodka or rum to this or any other granita and it becomes a frozen cocktail.

 

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Granita

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Makes about 3 cups 1x

Time about 2 hours

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 cups soft ripe fruit like cherries, berries, mangoes, or melons, picked over, pitted, peeled, washed, and/or dried as necessary; or 2 cups fruit juice, coffee, or coconut milk
  • Simple Syrup (optional)
  • Fresh lemon juice (optional)

Instructions

  1. Purée the fruit in a blender or food processor with a tablespoon or so of syrup; if you’re not using it, add some water if necessary to get the machine going. Strain the purée if there are lots of seeds or fibers. You should end up with a little less than 2 cups purée, but don’t stress about the exact quantity. Add lemon juice if you’re using it, or Simple Syrup, either to taste.
  2. Pour into a large shallow metal pan or baking dish and freeze, using a fork to scrape and break up the ice every 30 minutes. It should be slushy and crunchy with ice crystals and completely frozen after about 2 hours. Serve right away or pack loosely in an airtight container and freeze for up to a week. When it becomes too hard, chop it into chunks with a mallet and pulse it just once or twice in a food processor.

– Recipe from How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition 

 

Recipe variations

6 Great Granitas

Use one of these as your base and sweeten it as you like.

  1. Pomegranate: 2 cups bottled or fresh pomegranate juice; splash fresh lemon juice or 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (optional)
  2. Orange, Tangerine, or Grapefruit: 2 cups fresh juice, 1/2 teaspoon grated or finely minced zest
  3. Watermelon-Basil: 2 cups chopped seeded watermelon, 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (purée together, then strain)
  4. Green Apple–Lime: 1 cored, chopped Granny Smith apple (peeled if you like), 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon grated or finely minced lime zest (purée together to minimize browning)
  5. Red Wine: 1 1/2 cups pinot noir, beaujolais, or other fruity wine, 1/2 cup water
  6. Apricot–Orange Blossom Water: 2 cups pitted, chopped apricots, puréed, 1 teaspoon orange blossom water

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