This is a belly lab recipe by Sister Tess, developed for our show on that fabulous, easy ancestor of icecream, granita.

MOROCCAN MINT TEA GRANITA

for 6 portions

100 to 150 g. sugar (according to taste)
1 cup fresh mint leaves (or mint teabags if unavailable)
3 tbs green tea or 3 teabags
grated zest and juice of 1 organic or well washed lemon

Put sugar, mint (reserve a few leaves if you have the fresh stuff), green tea (use a teaball/bell if you have loose leaf tea) and the zest of the lemon in a jug or bowl, top with 1L just boiled water.  Take out the green tea when you think it is strong enough, allow to cool.  Add the juice of the lemon. Put mix through a sieve to remove mint leaves, or just take out mint tea bags.

Freeze the mix for about 2 hours in a metal or ceramic oven tray with 5cm high sides or any container you have available, but wide and shallow is best.  Every 30 minutes, mix, mush or scrape with a fork and/or spatula to break up the ice and combine well.  Serve preferably in stemmed glasses (keeps cool and looks pretty), topped with reserved mint leaves.  If it has set too hard just leave it out of the freezer for a few minutes, then scrape.

Granita will keep but the flavours are best fresh and not excessively iced.