Granita

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Granita, like this almond-flavoured example, is often eaten along with brioche in Sicily.

Granita (in Italian also granita siciliana) is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water, and flavourings from Sicily, Italy. Related to sorbet and italian ice, in most of Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet. (Steingarten 371) This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals.

Common and traditional flavouring ingredients include lemon juice, mandarin oranges, coffee, almonds, mint, and when in season wild strawberries and black mulberries. Chocolate granitas have a tradition in the city of Catania and nowhere else in Sicily, according to Steingarten. The nuances of the Sicilian ingredients are important to the flavour of the finished granita: Sicilian lemons are a less acidic, more floral variety similar to Meyer lemons, while the almonds used contain some number of bitter almonds, crucial to the signature almond flavour.

Granita with coffee is very common in the city of Messina, while granita with almonds is popular in the city of Catania. Granita in combination with a yeast pastry called brioche is a common breakfast in summer time. (The Sicilian brioche is generally flatter and wider than the French version.)

[edit] References

• Steingarten, Jeffrey (1997). "The Mother of All Ice Cream", The Man Who Ate Everything. Vintage Books, 361–380. ISBN 0-375-70202-4.  The chapter is an essay first published in June 1996.