Monday, August 2, 2010

Italian Ice For All

I think we can officially can this summer the Summer of Italian Ice. We're obsessed, but the frequent trips to the store to get our hands on some Richie's Italian Ice is getting pricey and junky. So we figured out how to make our own, and haven't stopped making it yet.

Watermelon: cut up half of a watermelon and put into blender with 2 tbsp of sugar. Blend until fruit is liquid and sugar is dissolved. Add one tray of ice cubes and blend.

Blueberry: Combine 3 cups of berries and 2 tbsp of sugar. Blend until fruit is liquid and sugar is dissolved. Add one tray of ice cubes and blend.

Peach: Combine the meat of 6-8 peaches and 2 tbsp of honey (the honey compliments the peaches nicely). Blend until fruit is liquid. Add one tray of ice cubes and blend.

Coffee: Make coffee to your liking. Be sure to sweeten while the coffee is still warm. The finished product would be delish with a bit of whipped cream.

For all Italian Ice flavors, pour mixture into shallow tray and put in freezer. Every half hour or so scrape the surface with a fork. Do this until the entire mixture is frozen and snowy.

I forgot about the coffee in the freezer, so it got no fork scrapings. You can see it is much more crystallized than the others.

We have raspberry and lemon on the list for this week. What flavors can you think of? We'd love some new flavor suggestions!

19 comments:

  1. oh, my! this looks and sounds incredible amy!
    (i am in love with frozen lemonade!)
    how about strawberry lemonade, pure maple syrup ice, raspberry, i wonder how adding in herbs mint etc. would taste? yum! : )

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  2. Sounds wonderful! I'm dreaming of grapefruit and rosemary - refreshing :-)

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  3. YUM!!! I have to try this. My kids will go gaga for it. What about cantaloupe or strawberry? or mango?

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  4. Genius, pure genius!! (I said that in my Wil E. Coyote voice) Thank you for posting this technique. We just got picked more blueberries today too. Your creations look absolutely delicious! What about pomegranate (though that can be pricey I imagine)? Hmm, also, lime, cranberry, orange, maybe grape? Perhaps a little lemon with the orange?

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  5. Oh my these are wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing and looks soo yummie! Have a lovely merry happy week and love to you!

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  6. I never made granita, "italian ice" (never heard of that term!), thanks for the recipes! When we toured Sicily a few years ago, it was so, so hot, and we survived on "Italian ice", lemon was our favorite.

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  7. Yummy! I think the larger crystals are called "granita", and remember making a delicious espresso granita where the crystals came out like that too.

    Your watermelon icecream reminds me of a smoothie we've been making this summer, with watermelon and a piece of ginger. Very refreshing!

    Nectarins currangs are in season here now, bet they'd make a nice icecream too?

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  8. Mint-watermelon
    Peach-mango
    Mixed berries (straining out the seeds before freezing)
    Orange-carrot?
    Basil-grapefruit?

    Aaand now I'm hungry for granita, and it's not even hot here.

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  9. cranberry or raspberries with peach

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  10. Awesome! All of the fruit ones sound so good and then at the end you just swept me away with the idea of a blended coffee. Be still my heart...I will be having this for breakfast tomorrow. Killer idea.

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  11. Look who made it over to Amy's place? I think on top of jewlery you need to open an Italian ice shop. These are wonderful. I've never made it but now I have to. It looks so good.

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  12. i am so making some of this!! what a great idea...and yes definitely get yourself a peach tree...they are super cool:) xo, pennie

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  13. Oh this post makes me so very very happy :). This is first on my weekend list of things to make. I have missed checking in with you my sweet friend, but it looks like this summer has been a good one for you.

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  14. Oh yumm! I love your menu of flavors here...and that you found a simple way to fulfill your summer water ice cravings!

    :)Lisa

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  15. hey amy! i just saw your 'new post' in my reader... i had to stop in and tell you we set up our tomatoes in a still life today and painted with watercolors, i had just as much fun as the kids! looking forward to your post! xo

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  16. Yum - that blueberry one looks amazing! Cherry is my favourite - do you think it would work??? xx

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  17. how about lemon/mint? lemonade with mint makes for a tasty drink so it can only be exponentially tastier as an Italian ice.

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  18. Granite! I haven't made this in ages, but my favorite memories of it come from my parents' making it. Yours looks fantastic!
    Nicola

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  19. Mmmm.... I love granita! The blueberry one looks amazing. Thank you for sharing the recipes!!

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