Watermelon granita
Pink icy granita made from watermelon with lime. The simplest summer refresher.
Watermelon is almost all juice, so this granita needs no added water. Just blend the flesh with the sugar and lime. In Sicily, watermelon is also made into a set pudding, gelo di mellone — the granita is its icy sister.
Type: Granita · Servings: 6 · Difficulty: Easy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 800 g watermelon (flesh) (seedless flesh, from about 1.3 kg of watermelon)
- 110 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
- 20 g lime juice (fresh)
Making the mix
- Remove the seeds from the watermelon flesh and blend it with the sugar and lime juice until the sugar dissolves.
- Press through a sieve and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Method — No-machine method
- Pour the chilled mix into a shallow metal or glass container (2–3 cm deep) and put it in the freezer.
- After 45–60 minutes, once the edges have frozen, scrape them with a fork and mix them into the centre.
- Repeat the scraping every 30 minutes until everything has turned into loose, icy flakes (about 3–4 hours in total).
- Before serving, fork the granita through once more and spoon it into chilled glasses.
A metal container chills faster than glass. If you forget the granita for too long and it freezes into a block, let it soften for 10 minutes, then scrape it with a fork or pulse it briefly in a food processor.
Total time: 5 h 15 min
Method — Compressor ice cream maker
- Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
- Pour in the chilled mix and churn for 20–25 minutes until you have a thick, glossy, still flowing ice slush.
- Serve straight away — this is how the smooth granita is sold in eastern Sicily (Messina, Catania), from rotating dispensers.
An ice cream maker gives a smooth, creamy granita. Don’t churn it too long — granita shouldn’t be as firm as sorbet. Any leftovers will set in the freezer; fork them through before serving.
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Stages
- Preparation
- 15 min
- Cooling
- 1 h
- Freezer with stirring
- 4 h
- Total time
- 5 h 15 min
Serving and storage
Serve with mint or basil leaves. For adults, you can top it with a spoonful of white rum or some prosecco.
Granita is best on the day it is made. It keeps for a few days in the freezer but sets hard — let it soften for 5–10 minutes before serving and scrape it again with a fork.
Tips
- Watermelon sweetness varies a lot. Taste the mix or measure it with a refractometer (target 16–18 °Bx) and adjust the sugar.
- A pinch of salt brings out the watermelon flavour.
- You can make granita from sweet melon (such as cantaloupe) the same way; it is sweeter, so use 20 g less sugar.