The freezer in the Cancer Support Community’s kitchen was giving me trouble during class last week–it wasn’t as powerful as my home freezer and the timing on the granita was way off. When I pulled the dish of juice out for the first fork scraping, it was still sloshing about, very much unfrozen. I was stymied, but one of the guests in my class piped in with, “It is 0° outside.” Hey! Why didn’t I think of that?! We shuttled the dish outside and in for the next few freezing and scraping cycles and had granita finished in time for dessert. Gotta love Montana.
Almost any fruit juice will make a refreshing granita. I’ve tried grapefruit, blood orange, lemon, and blueberry so far. Use what you like, simply shoot for 1 1/2 to 2 cups juice, then add a little simple syrup and water to get to 3 cups.
Here’s how to make your own simple syrup:
Simple Syrup
makes about 1 ⅓ cups
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water
Instructions: In a small saucepan, add water and sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer a couple minutes, until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Store syrup in glass container and refrigerate. (Do not cook much longer or you will make caramel – ha!) Refrigerate and use in coolers, cocktails, iced coffee, etc.
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