Cut open two grapefruits.
Juice them.
Mix in some sugar, about 1/3rd of a cup, and some boiling water: about 1/4 a cup (to taste.) Pour into a baking pan.
Put in the freezer.
Freeze for a few hours.
Then scrape with a fork:
Serve in a wine glass, a short glass, or even a paper cup. The choice is yours. You will be happy, nonetheless.
i done a similar thingy but with watermelon
So when do you add the vodka?
:)
strange, today in my writing class i heard about a palate cleanser served at a restaurant in sydney… and it was grapefruit granita. i suppose all the cool kids are having grapefruit granitas!
Butbutbut… it’s raining amd wet and cold.
and a little side note – it’s “cut”, not “cup”, dear, in your first sentence.
:)
So simple, yet so satisfying-looking. I have to try it soon, and I agree about adding a touch of liquer… when does that happen?
Would the alcohol preven the granita from freezing properly though?
Simple, yet elegant and refreshing! Does anyone know why the boiling water is necessary? Is it merely to dilute the grapefruit juice and, if so, why? Also, I think the vodka would not impede the grapefruit from freezing as long as one does not use too much vodka.
hahaha
What a funny and charming post!
Why not add the vodka at the end? Use the granita as more of a flavored ice cube?
Thanks… very interesting and not boring at all!
I have had something similar to this (lime-mango granita) at a restaurant in Banff, Canada (The Banffshire at the Banff Springs hotel) as a palate cleanser – it was fabulous! I’ll totally have to try this.
Does anyone else have the Foreigner song Cold as Ice running in their head after reading Adam’s title of the post?
Jen–yes :(
yep…. you’re as coooooooold as ice! and willing to sacrifice our love…doo doo dooooo.
(sorry)
Don’t cry for me, my Granita!
Sounds like a good recipe to try! But thinking of the sound of a fork scraping ice runs chills down my spine, like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Very cool photo recipe! One suggestion, via the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Rather than use a fork to scrape the ice, try using a pastry scraper. They don’t smush the ice as much, it’s quicker too.
I made one two weekends ago using blood orange juice. Yum.
You have to boil the water so that the sugar can dissolve, that way when the table sugar and the grapefruit sugars get together, they can crystalize together and not separatly.
Boiling water is used because…
once boiled water freezes “better” than tap water (and with the Mpemba Effect can actually freeze faster). Hot water helps to dissolve the sugar too (as previously mentioned).
We cite:
* “Hot water freezes faster than cold water. Why does it do so?”, Jearl Walker in The Amateur Scientist, Scientific American, Vol. 237, No. 3; September, 1977.
* “The Freezing of Hot and Cold Water”, G.S. Kell in American Journal of Physics, Vol. 37, No. 5; May, 1969.
Or, we can just ask Alton.