Granita
Sicilian shaved ice made from fruit, coffee or almonds. All you need is a freezer and a fork.
Granita is a Sicilian semi-frozen dessert made from a sugar solution flavoured with lemon, coffee, fruit juice or almonds. It is stirred or scraped while freezing to form small ice crystals. Unlike sorbet, which should be smooth, granita is deliberately crystalline — its charm lies in the fine grains of ice that melt quickly on the tongue.
How coarse granita should be depends on where in Sicily you are. In Palermo and the west of the island it tends to be coarser; in the east (in Messina, for example) it is almost smooth, close to sorbet. At home the coarser version is the most common, because all you need is a freezer and a fork.
Origin
Granita comes from Sicily. The American “Italian ice”, for example, is derived from it. We were unable to find more precise information about the origins of granita in verified sources.
Typical composition
We found no verified source with exact figures for granita. The values are a guide, derived from practice and from the composition of recipes.
| Parameter | Roughly | zmrzka target |
|---|---|---|
| Fat | 0 % (more for almond, and coffee with whipped cream) | 0–3 % |
| MSNF | 0 % | — |
| Sugars | around 15–25 % | 12–24 % |
| Brix | lower than sorbet | 13–24 °Bx |
| Total solids | lower than sorbet | 12–28 % |
| Overrun | almost none, it is not churned | 0–10 % |
| Serving temperature | soft, roughly −6 to −10 °C | −10 to −6 °C |
Granita has less sugar and fewer solids than sorbet. This lets the water form larger crystals, which is exactly what you want in granita. If you sweetened granita like a sorbet, it would not freeze into grains but stay slushy.
What the law says
No specific definition of granita exists in Slovak, Czech or US regulations.
In Slovakia
Slovak Decree No. 82/2018 has a “water-based” frozen dessert group. A fruit granita with enough fruit can come close to sorbet, which requires at least 25 % fruit (15 % for citrus).
In Czechia
Czech Decree No. 397/2016 has a “water-based” frozen dessert group (vodový mražený krém) with at least 12 % total solids. A granita without fruit (coffee, for example) fits there rather than under sorbet.
These are trade regulations — for home-made granita they serve only for comparison.
How to make it at home
Granita is the simplest frozen dessert — you do not need any machine.
- Base. Dissolve the sugar in warm water or hot coffee. Add juice, purée or almond milk. Taste the mixture only once it has cooled.
- Cooling. Leave the mixture to cool, 30–60 minutes.
- Freezing. Pour it into a shallow metal container (a baking tray or dish) to a depth of 2–3 cm. Metal chills faster than glass.
- Scraping. After 45–60 minutes, when the edges have frozen, scrape them into the centre with a fork. Then repeat about every 30 minutes, 3–4 times in all, until the whole granita is loose and grainy.
- Serving. Spoon it into chilled glasses and serve straight away.
You can make the smoother Messina-style version in a compressor ice cream maker. The coarse version is made in the freezer using the no-machine method.
Recipes: lemon granita, coffee with whipped cream, almond and watermelon.
Tip
If you forget granita in the freezer and it turns into a block, let it soften for 10–15 minutes and then scrape it up again with a fork. The grains will be coarser, but it can be rescued.
The most common mistakes
- One block of ice — you scraped it too rarely or too late. Scrape regularly.
- Will not scrape, stays slushy — too much sugar or alcohol; the mixture does not freeze firmly enough.
- Icy and flavourless — too little sugar, or the flavour is too weak.
- Too deep a layer — in a deep container the mixture freezes slowly and unevenly; the bottom stays liquid while the top freezes.
- Long storage — granita is best on the day it is made; after that the grains grow together.
Warning
Coffee granita contains caffeine. Fruit or almond granita is better for children (watch out for nut allergies).
How to recognise good granita
- The crystals are small and even, loose, not stuck together in lumps.
- The flavour is strong and clean — lemon is tart and refreshing, coffee is strong.
- The colour matches the ingredient: lemon is almost white, almond milky white.
- The grains melt quickly on the tongue and do not crunch like ice cubes.
How long it takes at home
| Stage | Time | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Making the base | 10 min | active |
| Cooling | 30–60 min | |
| Freezing and scraping | 2–4 h | scraping every 30 min, about 10 min of work in all |
Total: about 20 minutes of active work, 3–4 hours in all. No machine needed.
Equipment
Recipes (7)
Coffee granita with whipped cream (granita al caffè)
A Sicilian summer breakfast: icy coffee granita with whipped cream and a brioche. Just coffee and sugar.
Lemon granita (granita al limone)
The most classic Sicilian granita: lemon, water and sugar. Tart, sweet and icy.
Almond granita (granita alle mandorle)
Milky-white granita made from almonds, water and sugar — a Sicilian classic from around Catania and Etna.
Mulberry or blueberry granita (ai gelsi)
Deep purple granita made from black mulberries — traditional in Sicily; here you can make it with blueberries too.
Watermelon granita
Pink icy granita made from watermelon with lime. The simplest summer refresher.
Strawberry granita
A seasonal granita made from ripe strawberries — icy flakes that taste of fresh fruit.
Orange granita with Campari and prosecco
A grown-up granita as a frozen aperitif: orange with bitter Campari, topped with chilled prosecco.