Blackberries, arhhh such an easy catapult back to childhood, those fat juicy blackberries being such easy low-level pickings for any age at any time, their succulent sweetness worth any scratches, post sticky finger syndrome or lingering tell tale stains on white t-shirts.
To offset the heat here’s a juicy Blackberry & Montepulciano ‘d’Abruzzo granita recipe for when you are feeling doing anything but cook. It’s a variation on Vanessa Pruett’s Merlot one but with such a fruity wine as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo I’ve substituted divine Millefiori local Abruzzo honey in place of sugar.
Blackberry & Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Granita
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 600 g Freshly Picked Blackberries
- 180 ml Water
- 120 g Honey
- 120 ml Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
- 1 tbs Lemon Juice
- 1/2 Cinnamon Stick
Instructions
- Wash thoroughly blackberries in cold water for 10 minutes
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; let stand and seep for 15 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl ensuring that no pips enter your mixture and stir in the liquid that the blackberry mixture was steeped in. If you’d like your granita really fruity rub through the sieve more of the blackberries themselves (I used half in mine).
- Pour the mixture into a square glass or ceramic baking dish. Cover and freeze until partially frozen (about 2 hours). Scrape the mixture with a fork, crushing any lumps. Freeze for 3 hours or until completely frozen, scraping with a fork every hour. Remove from freezer; scrape mixture with a fork until fluffy.
- Footnote – If you don’t manage to eat all of this do be aware that the notes from the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo fade the longer this remains in the freezer!
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 11 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance travel and food web content manager and copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the co-founder of the social enterprises: The Abruzzo Blogger Community and Let's Blog Abruzzo. She is currently writing the book 'Abruzzo: Folk and Food.