Watermelon Lime Granitas

The Summer sun is upon us and it is relentless. Thank goodness for pools and sprinklers. Check it out here, the way you can winterize your irrigation system. There is nothing more refreshing in the dead heat of summer than cool sweet juicy watermelon. “When I was a kid” watermelons used to have seeds. We would have contests to see who could spit them the farthest. Then we would worry if we happened to swallow one because of the stories that the seed could sprout and grow in our stomachs. I also believed in the bogeyman and if I saw someone kissing on TV I would turn into a frog. Such were the times. We did not have a pool but we did have long sheets of plastic for a slip-n-slide. After rain storms we would take our skim boards into the back alley to skim the puddles. If if flooded we set sail on inner tubes in the street. To really cool down we used to walk down the street to the 7-Eleven for Slurpees. We tried making our own but it never worked just right. Except for the time when we put the liter bottle of Cherry 7-up in the freezer. I imagine that is how it happened when Granita was first discovered.

Granita is a icy frozen treat similar to the Italian ice, French sorbet and the American slushy or snow cone. The granita, traditionally made of coffee, is eaten as a refreshing and light dessert or between courses to cleanse the palate. It is uncertain exactly where the granita first originated. China has been cited for creating the first ice creams. Even so, the claims of Italy, France and Spain as the first to introduce water ices as far back as the 13th century are all together questionable. There are myths that Marco Polo brought the idea of cultivating ice and ice creams back to Italy from China but it is all undocumented speculation. In any event Italian ices eventually made its way to Europe and then on to the Americas.

Source: Woman’s Day
6 cups cubed seedless watermelon
1?4 cup sugar
1?4 cup lime juice

Purée watermelon in a food processor. Add sugar and lime juice; pulse until sugar is dissolved.

Pour into a 13 x 9-in. metal baking pan. Freeze 2 1?2 hours, stirring each hour, mixing ice crystals into the middle oXf the pan.

To serve: Let granita stand for 10 minutes at room temperature. Scrape into chilled glasses and serve at once