Episode 64
August 21, 2011
Blackberry Mint Granita
Summer may be coming to a close soon but I’m not ready to give up on frozen desserts! Granita is an easy-to-make frozen treat that requires no special equipment to make. It is a great introduction to frozen desserts and because it requires so few ingredients you can whip this up without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!
Granita is very similar to sorbet except with a few key differences. Sorbet has a little more sugar in it which results in a smoother texture and sweeter flavor. Granita, having less sugar, is more icy and has a grainier texture. While you can make either in an ice cream maker, it’s actually more common for households to make granita using a shallow dish.
If you recall from the grapefruit sorbet episode, using a baume scale is an excellent way to measure the amount of sugar in your granita base. A baume scale is a tool that measures density of a liquid. When applied to granita, we can use it to measure the amount of sugar in the base since more sugar means a more dense liquid. Though it isn’t necessary to use a baume scale it helps make your recipe consistent time after time. It is also very helpful for creating new recipes. Just remember that when using a baume scale your base must be around room temperature in order to get an accurate reading. If your base is too hot then you may get a reading that is too low, and if it is too cold then your reading may be too high. You can also use the egg method, mentioned at length in the sorbet blog post, but instead of a quarter-sized section you’ll want to land somewhere around a nickel.
If you are using a baume scale, then you want your base to be between 10-13 degrees baume which is contrast to sorbets which are about 14-18 degrees baume.
It’s important to note that when you prepare your simple syrup for this recipe that you want to boil it until it reaches about 220 – 223 degrees F. By using temperature to measure the amount of sugar in your syrup (higher temperatures means more sugar) you can also maintain consistency in your recipe. For example: If you were to only boil your sugar syrup and remove it from the heat right away it would have much more water in it than a syrup that was cooked to 220 degrees F. This means that you would need more syrup in order to achieve the same texture if you had used the denser syrup. Is this bad? Not necessarily but look at it this way: If you always use syrup cooked to 220 degrees F and you measure out 5 1/2 ozs of syrup and it works perfectly then you know that every time you use syrup cooked to 220 degrees F you need 5 1/2 ozs of it – you won’t have to take out a baume scale or estimate using an egg.
Once your base is made just pour it into a shallow baking dish. I like to use glass because plastic containers can sometimes harbor flavors and metal containers can sometimes change the flavor of the fruit juice. Granted, if you were to use a stainless steel bowl I’m sure it wouldn’t affect the flavor but I have so many pyrex pans that it just makes sense to use a glass container. Once your base is in your dish, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes – 60 minutes.
After about 45 minutes you will need to stir your base. Most people use a fork but a spoon or whisk work well too. All you’re really doing is mixing the ice crystals throughout the semi-frozen base so that it freezes evenly and not solid as a rock. You repeat this every 45-60 minutes until your base is at your desired texture – usually about 4 hours total. After that, your granita is ready to serve or you can put it into a container to freeze over night.
Just like the sorbet, granita is very easy to customize. By using different fruit juices or alcohols (like wine) you can instantly create a new recipe. By infusing spices and herbs into the simple syrup you can add depth to your recipe. Just remember that alcohol and wine both inhibit the freezing process – kind of like making your baume reading higher than what it really is – so if you use wine or alcohol you will probably need to use a little less sugar.
Over time your granita may separate. It may look like water is forming on the top of your granita – or large ice crystals have formed on the top of your granita. This is natural and if you eat your granita within a week you probably won’t experience separation. If separation does occur your granita isn’t really ruined but it won’t have as nice of an icy texture as it should have.
Many sorbet and granita aficionados add stabilizers to their granita (and sorbets) to help prevent separation. Gelling agents like gelatin, agar agar, and pectin all help prevent separation. Sometimes adding a little cooked cornstarch can help as well. Many people also use guar gum or gum arabic, ingredients found in gum paste and sometimes rolled fondant. In any case, you don’t really need very much stabilizer at all especially if you are only making a small amount – 1 to 2 pints.
Here’s the recipe for blackberry mint granita and the video is below! Thank you for watching!
