Almond Granita (Granita di Mandorla)
Granita di mandorla Say it: grah-NEE-tah dee MAN-dor-lah
Almond granita is Sicily's silky answer to a slushie: a frozen dessert of little more than almond milk, sugar and water, raked into soft, glittering crystals. It is a Catania and Messina institution, eaten from early morning at a bar with a warm brioche col tuppo, and made at home all summer long. The flavour is pure sweet almond — clean, faintly creamy, never cloying — and there is no dairy and no ice-cream machine involved, just a tray, a fork and a little patience.
Almond Granita (Granita di Mandorla)
Granita di mandorla
Pronounced grah-NEE-tah dee MAN-dor-lah
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Level
- Easy
Also egg-free.
Allergens: contains nuts. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
Almond milk
Syrup and finishing
Method
If your almonds still have their skins, drop them into boiling water for 60 seconds, then slip off the skins and pat them dry — you need 1 2/3 cups (250 g) of white almonds. Do not toast them: the granita must stay snow white.
Put the almonds and the 3 cups (720 ml) of hot water in a high-speed blender and run it for a full 2 to 3 minutes, until the nuts are ground to a fine paste and the liquid looks like thick, cloudy milk.
Line a sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth, or use a nut milk bag, set it over a bowl, pour in the mixture and squeeze hard until only dry pulp remains — you should have about 3 cups (720 ml) of almond milk.
Warm the sugar, the 1 cup (240 ml) water and the pinch of salt in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.
Stir the syrup into the almond milk with the crushed bitter almonds or almond extract, if using, then chill the mixture in the fridge until cold, about 1 hour.
Pour it into a shallow stainless-steel or glass tray about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep and put it in the freezer. After 45 minutes, pull the tray out and rake the frozen edges into the middle with a fork.
Keep freezing and raking every 30 minutes for 3 to 4 hours, until the whole tray is made of small, loose, glittering crystals and no solid block is left; break up any lumps with the fork.
Spoon into chilled glasses, mounding it up, and serve at once — it melts quickly.
Regional variant: Almond and coffee granita (Granita di mandorla al caffè, Messina)
In Messina the almond granita is often laced with coffee. Make the syrup with only 1/2 cup (120 ml) water, cool it, and stir it into the almond milk together with 1/2 cup (120 ml) of cooled strong espresso and 1 tbsp (15 g) extra sugar. Freeze and rake exactly as above: the result is a pale beige granita with a bitter coffee edge, served in the same chilled glasses.
Cook's notes
- Soaking the blanched almonds in cold water for 4 hours, or overnight, before blending gives a whiter, rounder-tasting milk; drain them well first.
- For finer crystals, stir 1 tbsp (15 ml) of glucose syrup into the sweetened almond milk before freezing — it keeps the granita soft and scoopable.
- If the granita freezes into a hard block, break it into chunks and pulse briefly in a food processor, or scrape hard with a fork, just before serving.
Serve with
A warm brioche col tuppo for dipping, or a small espresso alongside; in Messina, a spoon of unsweetened whipped cream on top.
Make ahead and storage
The almond milk and syrup can be made and combined up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Frozen solid, the granita keeps for 2 weeks — scrape or pulse back into crystals before serving.
