Coffee Granita – A Sicilian Treat
The granita is a true Sicilian treat; a fine dessert, or accompaniment, which is the ultimate summer pick-me-up for those long and lazy summer days which are so often spent between stints under sun and shade.
As Marcella Hazan, the esteemed Italian cookery writer, noted: “[The coffee granita] is one of the best ways to while away the time, watching life dawdle by…until the roof of your mouth [feels] like an ice cavern.”
Despite being closely connected to the Italian island, the granita is, much like Sicily’s architecture and aqueducts, Arab in both origin and inspiration.
The initial incarnation of the granita was something similar to what we would refer to as a sorbet in modern day parlance, however these tended not to come chilled or frozen – Sicily isn’t famed for its polar climate after all. However by the time transportation routes up and down Mt. Etna had been vaguely constructed and ice from the volcano’s peaks could be ‘harvested’, ice soon found its way into the granita’s recipe.
Today, the granita is available in a myriad of different forms and tons of regional variations have cropped up. For example, the capital of Sicily, Palermo, is known for its lemon granita (granita di limone), whilst Bronte – a small town in the Catania province – specialises in the pistachio granita (granita di pistachio). But, we’re extremely interested Messina’s favourite; the coffee granita (granita di caffe)
The vast majority of coffee granita recipes require a fair amount of espresso to be used, which is no bad thing. However this opens up a world of possibilities: Do you potentially go down a fruitier or floral route and explore the vast array of single origins on offer? Or do you stick to Italy and opt for a classic, tried and tested traditional dark roasted blend?
Luckily, there is no right or wrong answer to this quandary as in the end it all boils down to personal and customer preference. We can, however, point you in a couple of directions.
- Triple Certified Grand Cru – Smoky and spicy, but surprisingly smooth
- Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kochere Kore – Floral, with a candy sweetness
Did you know: Mark Twain references a granita in his 1867 novel Innocents Abroad and one of the earliest references to the dish (in English) can be traced back to 1807 when a recipe for an orange granita was published in The Complete Confectioner.
Coffee Granita Recipe
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
- 500ml espresso (for a strong granita) or 4 espressos, topped up with hot water (to 500ml).
- 40g caster sugar
Recipe
- Once you’ve got your coffee, set it aside to cool for a moment before adding in the sugar, stirring until it is dissolved.
- Place in a refrigerator until cooled.
- Pour into a large, shallow, spherical dish, cover and place in a freezer.
- After about forty-five minutes, remove the dish and stir with a fork, mixing the solid ice crystals back into the remaining liquid.
- Repeat this step every half hour until you have nothing but a ‘light cloud’ of crystals.
- Remove from the freezer, stir one final time and then serve.
photo: Citrus and Candy (Creative Commons)