Watermelon Mojito Granita

It is hard to fathom that a timeless cocktail and a dessert as old as the dawn of human civilization can come together to produce something completely unique and multidimensional. The Watermelon Mojito Granita is a perfect blend of the tropical watermelon, a bolt of refreshment from mint and lime, and the Mojito’s classic accompaniment, the white rum. To make an authentic glass of the cocktail, chopped seedless watermelon is mixed with lime juice, mint jelly and wite rum and blended in a mixer. The mixture is then laid on a flat tray and left to refrigerate for at least 4 hours, scraping in between with a fork. It is the scraping that makes this unique cocktail slushy, and the presence of alcohol prevents a complete solidification of the contents.

Both the Mojito and the Granita have standalone legacies of their own and their interesting histories of creation. The Granita, for instance, is a semi-frozen dessert made from ice, fruits, and water, stirred continuously to attain a creamy velvety texture. It is believed that the tradition of freezing drinks and desserts using ice goes back to Mesopotamia in 4000 BCE and that a recipe like the modern Granita existed back then. However, it was only with the Arab annexation of Italy in the 9th century and their introduction of the Sherbet, fruit juice flavoured with rose water and iced, that Sicily developed its unique heritage of the modern Granita.

As for the Mojito, this modern cosmopolitan cocktail is known for mixing white rum, lime juice, mint leaves, and sugarcane juice to create a perfectly tropical summer concoction. Patronised by none other than Ernest Hemmingway, the traditional Mojito is believed to have been derived from a 16th century Cuban local tonic with Aguardiente de Cana (sugarcane alcohol), mint leaves and lime juice.

What makes the Mojito so enigmatic is its ability to effortlessly imbibe any fruit juice or liquor to its blend. The Watermelon Mojito is one such delectable variation, believed to be a specialty of mixologist Cameron Prather. It is unclear though as to when and how the traditional Mojito was give the modern twist of a Granita, but from a socio-cultural understanding, it is not wrong to assume that the Watermelon Mojito Granita is a brainchild of some skilled mixologist in a modern Italian bar, hopefully in Sicily.