"Granita is frozen flavored syrup, sometimes called water ice or sherbet or sorbet. Some great flavors include coffee, lemon, and fruit flavors. A great project and treat for children."

Granita is frozen flavored syrup, sometimes called water ice or sherbet or sorbet. Once you’ve prepared the syrup-base, your children can use their imaginations to flavor it.

It’s a very cool and refreshing treat, and it makes a wonderfully light dessert at the end of a meal.

It contains no fats, but at the same time, it’s a satisfying replacement for ice-cream.

To Make The Granita Syrup

1. Put into a saucepan 1 and 1/2 cups sugar with 2 cups water.
2. Heat this on a burner until the sugar dissolves and the water becomes clear.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and let the syrup cool.

Some Granita Flavor Ideas

Coffee: add cold coffee to the syrup to taste. I say 'to taste' because some people like a strong flavor, others weaker; some decaffeinated, so children can eat the granita too.

Lemon: add lemon juice and grated lemon rind to taste. Usually you need the juice of about two lemons, but it depends on the size of the lemons, their juiciness, and strength of flavor.

Fruit flavors: add fruit juice to taste. You can use freshly squeezed, packaged, mixed flavors...whatever is most convenient. Let your children’s creativity flow. Just make a note of what they do so if it comes out great, you can recreate it.

Exotic: to offer then tastes of things not usually available ready-made in the stores, you can have them try exotic fruits like passion fruit, mango or papaya; nut flavored liquors for grownups; or green tea.

Alter the texture of the granita by folding in whipped egg whites, or by adding some sparkling wine or lemon-lime flavored soda.

Freezing and Serving

Pour the mixture into a glass dish and set it in your freezer for 1 to 2 hours.

If you have a microwave oven, follow these instructions:

• Let it freeze solid, then when you want to serve it, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. At that point, it is easy to scrape with a fork, which creates the right consistency for granita.
• Then scoop it into dessert dishes and serve immediately.
• Anything left, goes back in the freezer. When you want to serve it again, pop it back in the microwave for 2 minutes, and it will be the right consistency again.

It tastes wonderful with whipped cream.

If you do not have a microwave oven, follow these instructions:

• Just when it starts to set, stir it with a fork. This adds air to the mixture, which makes it about the right consistency.
• When it is frozen, scrape it with a fork, then scoop it into dessert dishes. If it is too hard to scrape straight from the freezer, give it a few minutes to soften slightly.

It tastes wonderful with whipped cream.

Candida Martinelli - Candida Martinelli grew up in San Francisco, California, but lived many years in Florence, Italy. As an outlet for her love of Italian culture, she set up Candida Martinelli’s Italophile Site a few years ago. It’s grown since then into a site that celebrates Italian culture for both children and adults. Candida offers up Italian culture in a fun way, with lots of pictures, and links for those who want to learn more after her introduction to a subject. She covers everything from Italian home decorating to gardening, fashion, music and movies.   Website: Candida Martinelli’s Italophile Site To review the Reprint Rights for this article, please go to the authors page by clicking the button below.