Strawberry and Elderflower Granita

Strawberry and elderflower granita

The strawberry season is with us at last! And with the English strawberries we have unseasonally good weather. The sun is glorious and we can have loads of glorious barbeques in the back garden. So to cool us all off I researched this wonderful dish. Now there are loads of strawberry granita recipes out there but I think my addition of elderflower really knocks this dessert into the realms of the heavens. Delicate wild elderflowers and the local Somerset strawberries make for a winning combination; plus I got the elderflower cordial from my local farmers market. This is a real celebration of local produce.

Serves around 6-8

1 kg strawberries, hulled and halved
90 g sugar (I used golden caster sugar)
1/2 lemon juiced
1 lime juiced
dash of elderflower cordial

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil (fill the pan about a quarter full of water).
   
2. Place a bowl over the pan to place your ingredients in.
3. Plonk the strawberries in the bowl keeping some aside for decoration later.



Heating the strawberry and elderflower cordial mixture



4. Add the sugar and the juice.
   
5. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about an hour. You want all those strawberries to smoosh up and almost melt.
6. Strain into another bowl using a nylon sieve or tammis and leave to cool.
7. Pour the solution into a shallow dish or if you are like me a number of shallow dishes. The important aspect is that the solution is 0.5 to 1 cm in depth.
8. Leave to freeze.... about 30 minutes or so. The outsides and top of the solution should be frozen.
9. Fork over the frozen granita. It should form little crystals. Spoon these into the middle and place back in the fridge for another 30 minutes (or whenever you remember).
   
   
   
   Forking over the granita
   
   
   
10. Repeat to fork over the solution until it all is reduced to these wonderful red crystals.
11. If you are making this in advance then before serving you should bring the granita out and allow to defrost a little.
12. Serve with a sprinkling of elderflowers and a strawberry.
    

Strawberry and elderflower granita