Grattachecca

A solid block of ice scraped by hand, with syrup poured over the shavings.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 1 large block of ice, frozen in a loaf tin
• 200 ml fruit syrup, such as sour cherry or tamarind
• 2 lemons, juiced
• fresh fruit, to top

Method

1. Freeze water in a loaf tin for 24 hours to get one solid block. Boiled and cooled water freezes clearer, if that matters to you.
2. Let the block stand 5 minutes out of the freezer. Scraping ice straight from -18C shatters it into chips instead of shaving it.
3. SCRAPE THE BLOCK with a sturdy spoon or an ice plane, held almost flat, into tall glasses. The name is the instruction: it means scraping the block.
4. NOTHING HERE IS FROZEN FROM A LIQUID MIXTURE. A granita freezes the flavoured syrup itself and a gelato churns a custard; this freezes plain water and adds the flavour afterwards, which is why the shavings stay white.
5. Pour the syrup over the shavings, then the lemon juice, and do not stir.
6. Top with fresh fruit and serve with both a spoon and a straw, because it separates into shaved ice above and syrup below as it stands.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes