Watermelon granita
Watermelon holds a special place in my heart. So juicy, sweet and refreshing. One of life’s simple pleasures, especially on a swelteringly hot day.
When I was a child, my mother used to tell me that my love for watermelon had to do with it being one of the things she craved most during those final months of her pregnancy with me… I was born in the middle of a particularly hot summer. Unlikely, but it makes for a nice story.
Given it was my birthday last week and the weather in Sydney was spot on for this time of year, I thought it would be a good time to share with you this refreshing watermelon granita.
You might recall I made an Espresso & Frangelico granita not so long ago, which was so well received that I thought I’d experiment with another flavour.
While in my opinion it’s hard to find a better way of eating watermelon than freshly cut and icy cold, this watermelon granita is pretty darn good.
For this version, I adapted Neil Perry’s recipe published by Gourmet Traveller, which uses a slightly different technique to my espresso granita, but the finished result was equally as good as my first. I didn’t make Perry’s accompanying ginger syrup on this occasion but I’ll definitely be giving it a try another time.
One small piece of advice – if you’re anything like me, just make sure you start out with plenty of watermelon as a good chunk of it didn’t make it further than the cutting board!
Enjoy.
- 750g seedless watermelon (flesh only) roughly diced
- 60g caster sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- Combine the watermelon and sugar in a bowl and leave to macerate (at least 45 min).
- Add the lime juice and blend together in a food processor until smooth, then strain through a sieve (if you prefer no pulp, line the sieve with muslin).
- Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish.
- Cover the dish with cling film and place in freezer. Leave for approximately 2 hrs or until ice starts to form around the edges.
- With a fork, scrape the mixture approximately every 45 min as it freezes, breaking up the forming ice into small shavings. Repeat until all the mixture is frozen (approximately 4 hrs).
- Return to freezer and leave until ready to serve.
- Great served as a refreshing treat on a hot summer’s day, or consider serving with cream and syrup for a more substantial dessert.