Granita di Caffe

Summer in Italy wouldn’t be summer without Granita!
Besides fruit flavors,such as watermelon, as I mentioned before, or lemon, made with lemons from Sicily or the Amalfi coast, coffee granita is one of my favorites.
I am very lucky as I can get it here in Florence at my Sicilian gelateria Carabe owned by Antonio and Loredana who as truly passionate about what they do!
Last week it was a tough choice, between cactus fruit ( prickly pears, called fico d’india),fresh fig or pear sorbet!

I adore Granita di caffe, talk about ice coffee!

You can always get it with or without whipped cream, but get it with!
This is a Sicilian Breakfast of Champions!
I haven’t been to Sicily yet, but Antonio has given me a warm brioche, made by his brother-in-law and taught me the trick to eating it!
Think of it as a cold cappuccino!

In Rome there is a coffee shop, Tazza d’Oro, which is famous for their own brand of coffee which you can see them roasting there and buy in the back of the bar!
What better place to try a coffee granita! They put whipped cream at the bottom and the top!

 

If you can’t get to Florence or Rome this summer.. here is the recipe to try it yourself.

Granita di Caffe

Boil together to make a simple syrup.

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

2 cups of expresso or strong coffee

Sweeten the coffee to taste with the simple syrup.

Pour into an 8-inch metal baking pan (1-quart capacity) and freeze, stirring with a fork every 30 minutes, until slushy, about 1 1/2 hours.

Break it up again and let it sit for 30 minutes and it is ready to serve.

Another trick is to freeze in an ice cube tray and then just grind the cubes in your blender.