Italian Mulberry Sicilian Granita Recipe

Imagine yourself enjoying this dessert looking out towards beaches of the Amalfi Coast, beautiful Palermo or your back porch! In this post, I'll also show you how to make this delicious Sicilian granita at home.

Granita is a refreshing semi-frozen dessert from Italy made from fruit, water, and sugar. Granita dates back to Sicily and comes in many traditional flavors, including lemon, coffee, and mulberries!

This Italian-inspired granita is an easy recipe that you can make whenever you have any sort of fruit on hand. It requires no ice cream maker and only a little bit of time.

Granita is a great way to use up fruit that won't last for long since it will be eaten up quickly (but not before it can be enjoyed).

Harvesting mulberries is usually the first week of June and really it's a fun time of year. There are several ways to harvest mulberries, but the easiest and most effective way is to use a rake-like tool called a "trellis" that you attach to your belt.

The trellis has two prongs at one end and a short handle at the other. When you reach up into the branches with it, you can pull down any fruit that's ripe enough to pick without damaging it too much.

I'll spread out a clean tarp underneath the tree and with a rake or a tall stick, shake out the branches and watch them fall! This process yields multiple pounds of mulberries without spending hours on a tall ladder and battling with squirrels.

Honestly, sometimes I go out in the mornings and pick them up off the tarp where they've fallen after being knocked off by birds or wind! It can be touch or go since mulberries are super delicate but it's the best way I know to harvest them.

• Mulberries: The first thing you need to make this recipe is a bunch of mulberries. I haven't found them in the stores as they are super delicate and don't seem to last very long after they're picked. Mulberries are an ingredient found in traditional Italian granita but many other fruits would work just fine!
  • If you don't have any mulberries on hand or want some variety, feel free to substitute another fruit or berry (blackberries would work perfectly).
• Sparkling wine: The addition of wine in this recipe is to add flavor and ensure that the mixture does not completely freeze. Feel free to use a fruit sparkling white wine of your choice!

• Combine juiced mulberries, wine, and water in a short-sided dish.
• Place in the freezer for at least two hours, scraping down with a fork to break up ice crystals after one hour. Repeat the freezing process until you have the desired consistency of granita (about three times).
• When granita is at the desired consistency, spoon into serving dishes and serve immediately.

Serve with fresh fruit or over ice cream. You can also serve this granita as a dessert, topped with sparkling wine for a slushy.

There is no substitute for mulberry granita. It's the perfect way to use fruit that is too ripe for anything else, and best of all, you can make it without alcohol!

Just in case you want to be able to enjoy your at-home dessert without alcohol, this recipe will require more water because the alcohol lowers the freezing point of the granita. You may need to adjust the amount of water needed depending on how much alcohol is used. It's best to stick to a 20% ratio in order for the ice crystals to form.

Looking for more summer berry and herb-based recipes? Check out these below!

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