16/10/2023
In summer, for several decades, the granita ritual has been repeated in Acitrezza.
From the early hours of the morning until late midday, couples and groups of young people, at the outdoor tables that occupy a large part of the town’s main square, give life to the custom of enjoying the traditional “granita and briosce”.
The “order” is always the same, with the “variations” however of the particular “taste” of the granita.
Until about fifty years ago the choice was limited between lemon granitas and the more delicate almond ones, to which chocolate ones were soon added, which allowed the addition of cream.
Then, the imagination of Sicilian ice cream makers boldly introduced other “flavors” which were initially limited to local seasonal fruit (oranges, peaches, apricots) and then opened the door to exotic fruits too (from pineapple to papaya, from mango to kiwi) also ending up flavoring the old granita with unpredictable ingredients such as blackberries, prickly pears and even jasmineGranita-Siciliana
Entire generations of “Trizzoti” and people from Catania have contributed en masse to keeping the ancient tradition alive, often the tribune of ephemeral or long-lasting relationships. At the tables in the square the feeling is that of participating in a collective ritual.
For breakfast or dessert. Granita, Sicilian passion
A famous advertising slogan compares Italian records “shared” with other nations. In Sicily there is one of our own, whose origins others never dare to question.
No, but what did you think? We are talking about a pleasure, the summer coolness with which we safeguard the palate by protecting it from the sultry heat of this island. Ladies and gentlemen, the true queen of summer, the one who resists all fashions, in short, the granita.
Of course, as belonging to a royal family – that of good taste and the pleasures of the throat – every city claims its origin, its cries, its first steps, its imprimatur, its inevitable success. Ragusaonline offers its visitors an Iblean version of the granita, or rather a Modican story, like many sugary delicacies that make Modica the Sicilian capital of sweets and the like.
The granita was born through ancient experiments. Snow, for example, which was stored under the straw mattress and on which a dose of syrup was sprinkled. The first rudimentary machines for producing granitas in certain quantities are found at the Cavaliere’s “Caffè Orientale”. Civello. A tub is turned by hand inside a well. Ice forms between the tub and the well and is “held” with coarse salt (2 parts salt and 1 part ice). It was the time of the monsù, a characteristic figure, the one who loaded the tub on his shoulders to take it directly to the places where it was consumed, mostly noble celebrations.
Even the “mezza”, the term with which granita is still referred to today, has its own explanation. According to Ignazio Iacono, who was an apprentice at the Orientale and today the owner of the “Caffè dell’Arte”, a true temple of the art of granitas in Modica, the “half” was equivalent to half a lemon, or rather the quantity of the citrus fruit it was enough to season the ice of a granita. The term, once coined, also served to indicate the quantity of granitas of other flavors.
granita-alle-fragoleToday, in modern machines called batch freezers, the tub and the well are one and the same and work automatically, also to obtain cremolata. However, the hand of man, or rather of the pastry chef, certainly stands out. How many times have we found ourselves chewing an overly frozen granita? Perhaps it depended on the quantity of sugar used or on the poor mixing once placed on the bar counter: it is the effect of the fats which, if not mixed frequently, progressively tend to gather in the center of the container, causing the outermost part to harden. external.
The variations:
Giro-Granite_-www.mimmorapisarda.it_For the taste of granitas you just have to choose. Lemon and coffee are breakfast classics accompanied by croissants that make diet enthusiasts frown. In this case, the brioche can be replaced by a less caloric sandwich. White or toasted almonds and strawberry granita are for refined pleasures.
The chocolate granita is for those with a sweet tooth, the mulberry granita (but not everyone makes it) is for gourmets. But be careful: they must strictly be black mulberries, because the white ones, although sweet, do not retain sufficient flavor.
Even when it comes to pairings, the choices are quite rigid: yes to coffee, chocolate, mulberry, strawberry and cream.
Source: http://www.mimmorapisarda.it/NORMASPECIAL2.htm