Italy’s favorite frozen treat, granita is a summer must.  Granita is made with water, sugar and different flavorings that can vary from fruits, such as lemon, melon or strawberry, to coffee, almond, mulberry, or pistachio. The texture should fall halfway between the creaminess of gelato and the granularity of sorbet. 

The origins of granita are usually traced back to the Arab domination in Sicily. The Arabs brought with them the recipe for sherbet, an iced drink flavored with fruit juices or rose water. Sicilian nobles used the snow collected in winter on the island’s highest mountains to make sorbets, gelato and granita.