Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Granita, a frozen dessert that is little more than sugar, water and flavorings—be those fruit juice, coffee or almond—has been around for centuries in various forms. A Sicilian invention, it is said that wealthy Sicilians stored snow from Mount Etna in special structures, called “snow houses,” or case neviere, so that during the summer they could enjoy what were essentially ancient snow cones. Our modern take on this age-old culinary tradition is a lemon granita studded with pine spheres. These spheres, made with the balsam aroma of fir needle oil using the technique of <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/reverse-spherification">reverse spherification</a>, go pop and release their flavor and aroma into the granita as it is stirred. We think of it as the modernist take on a palate cleanser, no snow house necessary.

Pine Spheres with Lemon Granita