The Cottage Smallholder

I got a bowl of tiny, red gooseberries from my lovely friend down the hill. The seed-flesh ratio was a bit different the large, green gooseberries I'm more used to, so I decided to make granita with these ones.

I topped and tailled 250g of gooseberries and simmered them in 300ml of water, pressing them lightly against the side until they'd gone pulpy. I added caster sugar and lemon juice until the mixture tasted slightly too sweet, and slighty too tart for pleasant eating, and then strained it through a sieve. I poured the syrup into a large, flat tupperware tub and left it to cool.

When it was cool, I put it in the freezer. I'll stir it every hour or so, breaking up the crystals.

When it's time to serve it up I'll lift it out of the freezer 20-30 minutes beforehand, and scrape a load of crystals off the block with a fork. I'll serve it piled in nice glasses.

I didn't follow a recipe for this. I was inspired by a strawberry granita receipe from The River Cottage Year book. It worked well when I adapted the recipe to make lemon granita, so hopefully this one will work as well.