nectarine-apricot granita

A bright and sunny nectarine-apricot granita.

It is probably obvious by now that I thoroughly enjoy stone fruit season at my local farmers market. Top-grade fruit is affordable, second-grade fruit is cheap and still delicious, and every now and then, a stall might offer a "jam box" of blemished or extremely overripe fruits for almost next to nothing.

Simon and I took advantage of one of the "jam box" specials recently. Heavy with peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots, the $2 price tag beckoned to us. I had no intention of making jam, but I knew I would somehow figure out something to do with the fruits.

I extricated the flesh of most of the plums and froze them for future smoothie creations. I assessed the peaches and decided that they were still fit for standard consumption. So I was left with apricots and nectarines, some of which we ate, but several were so incredibly soft and sweet that I felt they were better off blended up and broken into a granita. Thus, here we are, with a nectarine-apricot granita.

This nectarine-apricot granita goes beautifully with a dollop of cream or yoghurt.

nectarine-apricot granita

300g / 2/3lb overripe apricots
150g / 1/3lb overripe nectarines (I used white nectarines, but yellow nectarines are also great!)
1/2 cup water
1 lemon (or about 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 teaspoons lemon zest)
1 tablespoon honey (Optional, especially if the stone fruits are fall-apart sweet. Omit for a vegan recipe.)

Remove the stones from the apricots and nectarines. You can remove the peel, too, but I didn't bother. (As you can see, my granita has lovely flecks of red from the nectarine skin!)
Blend the apricot and nectarine flesh with the water, along with the juice and zest from the lemon.
Add honey to taste, if you feel that it is necessary. If using honey, dilute it in a small amount of water before stirring it in.
Pour the mixture into shallow containers, cover, and place in the freezer. Fill up the containers to only about halfway, as you'll need the extra space when creating the ice crystals of granita.
Check back in about 2 hours - the mixture should be showing signs of setting at this time. Break the mixture into ice crystals with a fork, and place it back into the freezer.
Repeat the breaking of the ice crystals about once every hour after this. Do this until all the liquid is converted to ice crystals.

You can serve the granita on its own, but I suggest pairing it with cream or yoghurt. Deliciousness!