Cantaloupe Granita

Last week our local supermarket sent us some coupons in the mail. One of the coupons was for cantaloupe - 2 for $5. This is a pretty good price for cantaloupe, so I picked them up when I was grocery shopping. I went to cut them up this weekend and realized that there are only 2 of us in this house, and there is no way we'd eat all of this cantaloupe (I also bought 6 peaches) before it went bad. I ended up cubing one to eat for snacks this week, and I used the other one in a recipe I found for granita.

According to wikipedia, granita is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water and flavorings. It originated in the Sicily region of Italy. It is basically a cross between sorbet and italian ice. The most common flavorings are lemon, strawberry, almond and coffee. If you're interested in some other granita recipes, try this article I found at npr.org.

Cantaloupe Granita
Michael Chiarello, Food Network

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
2 medium cantaloupes (about 4 pounds each) peeled and seeded, cut into 1-inch wedges
Pinch gray salt


Directions
Combine the sugar and water over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the mint. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.



Puree the fruit in a food processor until liquefied. Pour the fruit into a medium bowl and add the salt. Remove the mint leaves from the syrup. Add the syrup to the pureed fruit and mix well.

Pour the cantaloupe mixture into a pre-chilled 7 by 12-inch glass baking dish. Place it uncovered into the freezer. Stir with a fork every 1/2 hour until almost completely frozen but still grainy, about 3 to 4 hours.