Fruit leftover granita

serves:

On many occasions, we find ourselves with fruit that is at the end of its lifespan. We would tend to throw it away, while any fruit can be salvaged and made pretty fancy. Granita can be used instead of coulis for desserts or can be served as a stand-alone refreshment.

How can you proceed:

1. We want to go from solid to liquid the easiest way possible. For this we make a simple sugar syrup: bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar to boil and allow to cool down. It may be handy to always have this solution at hand, so, instead of cups, you can opt to make 2 L of water and 1 kg of sugar and keep it in a plastic container.

2. For every 100 g of fruit you want to give a second life, you want the same amount of simple sugar syrup. Combine both together in the blender and blend them together well. Stick to one type of fruit ideally: Apples and pears, all limes, all red fruits combine perfectly between one another. For this, use common sense.

3. After blending, filter the liquid through a mesh sift into a plastic container and freeze.

4. Now, whenever you need the granita, freeze and empty tray, remove the frozen fruit liquid from the plastic container and (preferably in the freezer) grate the frozen juice with the coarse side of your cheese grater straight into the frozen tray. 

5. Keep frozen until only seconds before serving.

For advanced cooking, you can use this technique for savory products too, such as carrots, tomatoes, roasted bell peppers. In that case, heat your base product (e.g. 100 g of roasted bell peppers) in proportionally half the volume of white chicken stock (e.g. 50 g), blend and cool down prior to freezing it. This can be a very nice addition to summer salads, carpaccio of fish, etc.