{"id":5295,"date":"2023-08-22T09:16:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T14:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=5295"},"modified":"2023-08-22T09:16:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T14:16:17","slug":"something-icy-to-cool-things-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/something-icy-to-cool-things-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Icy to Cool Things Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another day of 110\u02da weather and it\u2019s time for something\nicy to cool things down. No matter how patient I am in winter, put me in a heat\ndome and I get grumpy quickly. I\u2019m not the only one; everyone seems on edge when\nthe mercury climbs above 100. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I need, we all need, is a quick cool down. What we don\u2019t\nneed is to get in a hot car. I\u2019m thinking this is a good time to try out an icy\ngranita treat that can cool me from the inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pineapple\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A quick inventory of my refrigerator confirms I have fresh\npineapple and cucumbers. They sound yummy together! Mint or cilantro would be a\nnice addition, but all I have on hand is basil. If I throw some in, I\u2019ll keep\nit light. I\u2019m tempted to add a little white wine since I have an open bottle I\u2019m\nstruggling to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin, I\u2019ll make simple syrup. Not only will sugar sweeten the ice, it will keep the granita from freezing too solidly. The alcohol in the wine will also inhibit freezing<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple syrup is just sugar melted in water. The ratio is\ntypically 1:1. If you prefer something sweeter, rich simple syrup has twice as\nmuch sugar as water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissolving sugar before adding it to a drink keeps it from\nlanding in the bottom undissolved. It can also deliver the herby flavor I want\nto add to this granita. Instead of putting basil in the fruit pur\u00e9e, I can throw\n6 or 7 sprigs into the simple syrup once the sugar has dissolved, boil it\nfor  a minute and then just let it steep\nfor half an hour while the syrup cools. I\u2019ll just fish the herbs out before I\nadd the syrup to the fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had pineapple juice, I could use it for this cold\ntreat. I don\u2019t. I have slices left over from the pineapple upside down cake I\nbaked last weekend. I\u2019ll cut these into smaller chunks and pur\u00e9e along with the\ncucumbers. I\u2019m estimating that I\u2019ll use 1\/3 of a pineapple. I\u2019m going to peel a\nlarge cucumber and leave a smaller one unpeeled. I\u2019ll also cut these into small\ncubes before adding to the food chopper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want a little liquid in the chopper before I turn it on.\nIf I have a lime, I\u2019ll squeeze in a little lime juice. If not, I\u2019ll probably\ngrab that wine and drizzle in a tablespoon or so. I\u2019ll also add a pinch of\nsalt. I\u2019ll slowly add simple syrup to this mixture until the taste and texture feel\nright. The nice thing about working with dishes like this is that I can taste\nalong the way. There are no ingredients that must be cooked to be safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the mixture is done, I\u2019ll pour it into a shallow baking\ndish and place it in the freezer. I only want it to partially freeze. I\u2019m not\nsure exactly how long that will take. I\u2019m planning to check it every couple of\nhours. Once much of it has crystallized, I\u2019ll scrape it with a fork and allow\nit to freeze a little more. I\u2019ll scrape again before I serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the kind of recipe I love and that drives my sister\ncrazy. I\u2019ve given you no specific measurements or times. That wasn\u2019t really my\nplan, but I\u2019m working around contractors in the kitchen so here we are. That\ndoesn\u2019t change the fact that I\u2019ll need something icy to cool things down in a\nfew hours.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahhhhh, I\u2019m looking forward to it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another day of 110\u02da weather and it\u2019s time for something icy to cool things down. No matter how patient I am in winter, put me in a heat dome and I get grumpy quickly. I\u2019m not the only one; everyone seems on edge when the mercury climbs above 100. What I need, we all need, … Continue reading “Something Icy to Cool Things Down”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2797,7,6],"tags":[3468],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5295"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5302,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5295\/revisions\/5302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}