LEMON GRANITA - traditional Sicilian sorbet recipe - philosokitchen (2024)

FAQs

What is a Sicilian granita? ›

A Sicilian specialty, granita is a cold, sweet treat made from water, sugar, and fruit that is never completely frozen. It's mixed continuously to obtain a texture that is simultaneously grainy and creamy.

In a pitcher or bowl, stir together the lemon syrup with peel, lemon juice and mineral water. Pour into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Garnish each serving with a twist of lemon peel. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you may freeze it in a tall canister.

The classic granita flavours are lemon, cinnamon and jasmine, with variants such as strawberry, almond and coffee. But there is also pistachio, black mulberry, peach, mandarin and pineapple, depending on the season. Another very popular flavour is the so-called “chocolate granita”, which is actually made with cocoa.

Like sorbet, granitas are often made from a puree of fruit, sugar, and water. The difference is in their texture. Unlike sorbets, which are smooth-churned, granita purees are scraped repeatedly during the freezing process, loosening their structure into icy flakes.

Limone (Lemon) – The most traditional, refreshing and low-calorie flavour. Gelsi (Mulberry) – Flavourful and refreshing, for exquisite tastes. Fragola (Strawberry) –Fresh and sweet, it goes well with the lemon flavour. Pesca (Peach) – Delicious and light, great in combination with the almond or mulberry flavour.

The nutrition lowdown

Because it contains little other than water, sugar and some form of fruit, sorbet tends to be much lower in calories and fat than ice cream.

Sherbet and sorbet are both fruity frozen treats whose names are often incorrectly used interchangeably. The main difference? Sherbet contains dairy while sorbet has no dairy.

As water starts to freeze in a syrup, the unfrozen water becomes, in effect, a more concentrated syrup. This process continues until you have a bunch of small ice crystals in a sea of syrup so concentrated that it'll never really freeze.

As a breakfast, granita is traditionally eaten only in Sicily. It's mostly the coffee granita served with a whipped cream topping and accompanied by a soft sweet bun/brioche. But in other parts of Italy is eaten in the same way you would eat an ice cream (as afternoon or evening snack).

In Sicily, granita is not enjoyed all by itself - it's almost always consumed with an accompanying bun of fluffy brioche (and the brioche buns have a bun of their own: a little ball on top of the dough called a tuppo in reference to the low-bun hairstyle popularized by Sicilian women).

What's the difference between gelato and granita? ›

The texture of authentic granita is halfway between the creaminess of gelato and the granularity of sorbetto. Granita contains small ice crystals which you should feel with your tongue; the ice crystals should be compact, not liquid and soft like a sorbet.

Most granitas are made using three simple ingredients - fruit, liquid and sugar. Whatever fruits, juices or wines you choose, you can make almost any granita according to the same basic recipe. First, you need to get the correct ratio of fruit to liquid and sugar.