Gelo di mellone
Watermelon ice
Watermelon ice (in Italian "gelo di mellone" or "gelo di anguria") is a typical Sicilian dessert. It's so soft to be eaten with a teaspoon. Watermelon is the translation of anguria in Italian but Sicilians use to call anguria melone or mellone. It is easy-to-do and you can have the best result only using good-quality ingredients. Interested in other Italian cakes and desserts?
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- 1l (2.1 pints - 4 1/4 cups) watermelon juice
- 80g (2.8 ounces) wheat starch
- 100g (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
- 50g (1 3/4 ounce) candied peel
- 50g (1 3/4 ounce) chocolate drops
- 50g (1 3/4 ounce) pistachios to be shelled
- A cinnamon stick
- Pinch vanilla powder
- Essence of jasmin flowers
- Time:
preparation: 40 minutes plus cooling time
cooking: 15 minutes
total: about an hour - Difficulty:
easy recipe - Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 229 (kCal) 12 % GDA (*) - 956 (kJ)
Protein: 2.1 (g) 5 % GDA
Total fat: 5.1 (g) 8 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 46.1 (g) 18 % GDA
Sugars: 33.9 (g) 38 % GDA
Watermelon ice or gelo di melone or gelo di anguria recipe
Prepare the watermelon. You have to use a 2 kg (4lb and 6 1/2oz) watermelon to have 1 l (1 pint and 15 1/4fl oz) juice.
Cut the watermelon into slices, remove its rind and seeds. Then pass the pulp through a food mill to have its juice.
Cook the watermelon juice. Pour the watermelon juice into a large pan. Sift in the wheat starch stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Add the sugar too and stir. Then add the cinnamon stick and vanilla. If you have the jasmin essence that's the moment to add it. Bring to the boil on low heat stirring continuously and keep on cooking for other 3 minutes after the beginning of boiling. Stir continuously.
Switch off the gas, remove the cinnamon and add the candied peel cut into little pieces. Stir.
Let the juice cool.
Garnish the watermelon ice. Shell and chop the pistachios.
Distribuite the watermelon ice in the cups and chill until serving, at least 3 hours.
Garnish with the chocolate drops and pistachios just before serving.
Note
- - It's difficult to find the essence of jasmin flowers but you can do it at home easily if you are able to find jasmin flowers in the beginning of summer. It's enough to pick up a handful of flowers, wash them and put in a little bowl, cover with cold water and soak for at least two hours. The final step is to drain the water. Your essence is ready! Obviously you have to use flowers with no fungicides treatment.
Use fresh flowers to garnish the cake as you can see on the photo. - - It's difficult to find candied peel too but you're not obliged to add it to the cake. If you want you can substitute candied peel with candied citron or use no candied fruit. In the last case you can also reduce the calories and sugars!
- - You can serve watermelon ice at the end of a lunch or dinner. Prepare it as individual portions in little cups or as a whole pudding as you can see on the photo. We suggest to prepare watermelon ice in the first way until you become expert with this Italian cake.
Another tip: why don't you prepare a tart filling it with watermelon ice? It tastes fantastic and is ideal for a summer menu. Prepare the watermelon ice and fill a shell made with short pastry and baked empty. Chill until serving. Bring back to room teperature before serving. At this point garnish the surface with chopped pistachios and chocolate drops.
Healthy eating
- - This is a low-calorie cake but its sugars are very high as you can see reading its nutrition facts. What can we do to reduce sugars? For example not to add sugars if the watermelon is sweet or use a sugar substitute that can be cooked.
Note the nutrition facts with no sugar: E
energy kCal 163, protein g 2,1, fat 5,1 g, carbohydrate g 28,7, sugars g 17,3, fibers g 1,8
What's the right wine ?
Our suggestion is a dessert wine of Sicily such as Contea di Sclafani Bianco Dolce. If you don't find it you can serve an Italian dessert wine
The author Loretta Sebastiani lives in Italy (IT)
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