Week 12: Sassafras – The Sass in Root Beer Granita

Yes, I scoop my granita with an ice cream scoop.

Before offering up dessert last night, I asked Mike to try and guess what we were going to have.

“Does it involve fruit?”
“No.”
“Does it have dairy?”
“No.”
“Chocolate?”
“Try again.”
“Corn syrup?”
“No. But it is dessert, so it involves some sugar.”

He gave up. He also looked a bit nervous.

Flashback to earlier in the way. While browsing around, a came across this “Root Beer Grows Up” post. I also realized that I still had Thomas Kemper Root Beer left over from my last Pagliacci pizza delivery. Decision for something new to try completed! I’ve seen a number of granita recipes over the past few months and really think it’s a easy and quick way to make dessert. I’ve shied away from buying a an ice cream maker, but I can definitely find the ambition to freeze sugar water and stir every hour or so. I’m sure that adding alcohol and some herbs to the mix adds some lovely nuances, but I just wanted the root beer flavor this time.

I also thought about how I don’t know what goes into root beer other than sassafras. Indeed, Thomas Kemper does use sassafras root in their flavoring along with vanilla.The subtle changes to ingredient lists for root beer seem to be as tightly guarded as the recipe for Coca-Cola.

So this granita thing was a success. It was icy enough for Mike, who has a great fondness for slurpees, sorbets, and all sorts of frozen sugar treats. I liked the low-energy and high-satisfaction aspect of making this dessert. Now we just need a bigger freezer for making more of these!

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