Prep
15 minutes
Cook
5 minutes
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Region
Sicily
What you’ll need
Ingredients
- 1 cups lemon juice, strained
- ⅞ cup sugar
- 2½ cups water
- Zest of 1 lemon
At the stove
Instructions
- 1
Heat ⅞ cup of the water with the sugar and zest until dissolved, then cool completely.
- 2
Strain out the zest and mix the syrup with the lemon juice and the remaining water.
- 3
Pour into a shallow metal tray and freeze.
- 4
After 45 minutes, scrape the frozen edges into the centre with a fork.
- 5
Repeat every 30 minutes for about three hours, until the whole tray is loose crystals.
- 6
Serve straight away, in cold glasses.
Recipe notes
The texture comes entirely from the scraping — a blender gives you a slush, not a granita.
Traditionally eaten in the morning with brioche.
Context
Granita is documented across Sicily in many flavours, with regional differences in texture; the lemon version is the most widespread.
Sources: Editorial adaptation of documented Sicilian regional cooking, Ro & Ti Kitchen
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