Green Juice Granita

Green Juice Granita

A bright and herbaceous refreshing granita that’s highly customizable.

We are an ice cream house over a popsicle house. Or at least we were until we had a kid, and now we are both. Don’t get me wrong, the concept of a popsicle is great: extremely versatile flavors on a stick. But sometimes you hate the texture of popsicle sticks (Chris) and also hate cleaning popsicle molds (Carlene), and that’s when a granita becomes the best format.

In this granita recipe, we’re using green juice as a base to create a herbaceous, bright, and lightly sweet option that works as a palate cleanser or dessert that even our 4 year old likes.

There are plenty of opportunities to make this your own recipe. You can infuse flavor into the sugar and water mixture by simmering something like ginger or pink peppercorns with it. You could use bitters to mix in before freezing (eg. celery bitters, cucumber, or with another base something like rhubarb).

And also…you don’t even have to make the juice base. To make this as easy as possible, you can go to the store and buy a green or other juice.

Lastly, know that you can serve this in a big wine glass and top it with sparkling wine.

If you do make this to serve to others, one thing we recommend is making a ‘hydration chamber’ for your garnishes (pictured above). We learned this technique from florist Susan McCleary and thought it would be perfect to apply to food styling (it is- it works perfectly). You’ll take a damp paper towel and line the bottom of a food storage container, add your garnishes on top, and close the lid and place in the fridge. It will help keep the garnishes from wilting and make them perky for service.

Green Juice Granita

INGREDIENTS

1.5 English Cucumbers (450g)

3 handfuls spinach (200g)

2 Lemons, peel and pith (the white part) removed

3 Celery ribs (100g)

1 large handful Fresh Mint (20g)

25 g sugar

25 mL water

Garnish recommendations: violas, yarrow, lemon balm, tarragon, mint, nasturtium

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prepare produce by removing lemon pith and cutting into pieces to fit your juicer (or blender with a fine mesh sieve/nut milk bag). Process. This quantity of produce makes about 500 mL of juice.

  2. Pour juice through designated pitcher that comes with your juicer to avoid foam and place juice into a shallow container that fits in your freezer. Mix in sugar and water.

  3. Freeze for about 6 hours, stirring with a fork after 45 minutes, and then about once an hour or hour and a half after. If you forget (guilty), just know you’re going to have to scrape it with a fork for a bit to fluff the ice crystals as shown but it will still turn out just fine.

  4. Garnish with any pretty edible flower or herb you like. This is the part that makes it very ‘wow’.

Dietitian Nutritionist and cookbook author sharing flavor-forward recipes and simplified science-driven wellness.