An exquisite frozen iced treat from Italy is called granita. Although you can make it throughout the year, summer is when it’s most savored. Not only is it chilly and tasty, but you have to repeatedly stick your heated face in the freezer to stir. To get ideal ice crystals, repeatedly stir the granita with a fork while it freezes.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ripe strawberries, hulled and halved
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup white sugar, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice (Optional)
- ¼ teaspoon balsamic vinegar (Optional)
- 1 tiny pinch salt
Instructions
- Rinse strawberries with cold water, then drain.
- Place berries into a blender with water, sugar, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Pulse several times to get the mixture moving, then blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into a large baking dish; the mixture should only be about 3/8 inch deep in the dish.
- Place the uncovered dish into the freezer until the mixture barely begins to freeze around the edges, about 45 minutes, it will still be slushy in the center.
- Keeping the mixture in the freezer, use a fork to lightly stir the frozen crystals from the edges in towards the center; mix thoroughly. Close the freezer and continue to chill until granita is nearly frozen, 30 to 40 more minutes. Mix lightly again with a fork as before, scraping the crystals loose. Repeat freezing and stirring with the fork three to four more times until the crystals are separate and the granita looks dry and fluffy.
- Portion granita into small serving bowls to serve.
- This will work with other fruit and berry purees.
- Hull strawberries by using the tip of small, sharp paring knife inserted at a 45-degree angle near the hull. Rotate the berry to cut out a small cone containing the hull. It saves a little bit of fruit from each strawberry.
- Freezing times will vary greatly depending on how cold, empty, large, etc., your freezer is. Just keep checking and forking!
- This recipe appeared in Allrecipes Magazine and was modified to include sparkling rosé or prosecco and fresh mint leaves.
Reviews
This is delicious! I added raspberries to make it even more fruity.
I made this with frozen pineapple and mangos and it was amazing!! I did more mango than pineapple, which was best.
So tasty! My blender was, unfortunately, broken, so I had to improvise, a phrase which here means “smash the strawberries with a potato masher.”I did add the salt and lemon juice, just to balance the sugar. Also-I made it with a bunch of fresh mint from my garden. So refreshing! It was surprisingly flavorful and crumbly. However, it melts very fast on a hot day…eat quickly!!
This was amazing, followed as written and everyone loved it.
Very good and simple to make. I thought it was delicious!
Made it exactly as written. I had made a rather heavy meal for company and wanted something light for dessert — this was the perfect choice. My husband loved it and he didn’t expect to. I’ll be make more of this with other fruit as well — Yummy!
A Yum, Yummy lunch, paired with a feather than airy Twill, a huge success! In a martini glass with a spiral twill?? A recipe that don’t need adjustments is a fave in my kitchen. But, I was so awe that forgot to take a photo??
Added blueberries myself and switched sugar for less amount of pics granulated sweetener for my diabetic husband. It’s amazing!
This was very simple to make and tasted amazing.
This was a WOW and a new favorite in my house.
I like to put some basil on top but the rest was a hit on my kids
Love this. Made no changes to the recipe and was very pleased with the results.
Very refreshing and yummy! This is a great way to use an abundance of strawberries from our garden patch. Very simple recipe but make sure you leave enough time for the freezing and stirring. I make mine in the morning and it is ready to devour in the summer evenings . Make sure you don’t omit the balsamic vinegar. It adds brightness to the dish.
no, no changes. wonderful as it was in the recipe.
It was a delicious and refreshing treat that is just perfect for a sweet tooth craving. It helps satisfy that sweet tooth without all the sugar! Absolutely Marvelous! I hope everyone has a fun time making it as well! 🙂
I made this last summer( a little late in my review) and my kids came to spend the night with my grand children. The weather was so hot and this was so refreshing! They told me not to bother buying popsicles any more!
It was a little sweet but it tasted good. I told my daughter it was like a snow cone so it seemed like a fun summer treat to her.
I took this as a technique rather than a strict recipe. I didn’t have 2# of strawberries but had a seedless watermelon and fresh mint and limes on my deck so that was what I used. I did put in some salt and some white balsamic. It was excellent! Will try with various other fruits.
I made this with frozen strawberries in my Nutramax blender and it came out creamy and delicious. Perfect for my lactose intolerant son and relatively healthy for the rest of us.
Awesome! Turned out just like he said. Only difference is it took much longer to freeze bc I have a small overcrowded freezer bc my other freezer died. So look it took over night to really freeze. We tried the every 45 minutes thing. After the 4th 45 minute we just decided to wait. We used all the ingredients. Tastes awesome.
Wow, Chef John, you did it again. Everyone loved it. But it only made 4 servings! Ha. Please keep up the videos.