Photo and recipe by Jeany Cronk.
This cantaloupe and lime granita from Jeany Cronk’s new cookbook, At Home in Provence, is the kind of recipe that makes you feel like you’re somewhere else. Somewhere warmer. Slower. Quieter. It’s just ripe melon, a squeeze of lime, and a quick syrup—frozen, scraped into crystals, and served in the melon shell like you’ve planned it that way all along.
Cronk is the co-founder of Maison Mirabeau, a rosé winery based in Cotignac, one of the most picturesque villages in Provence. It’s also where you’ll find Lou Calen, an eco-resort we love, with its own vineyard, Michelin-starred dining, and a sense of calm that’s hard to come by. This granita would fit right in—served poolside or as the last course of a long garden lunch.
But the beauty of this recipe is that you don’t need to be there. You can make it wherever you are. It’s easy, and it feels like a little escape. No machines. No baking. Just good ingredients, cold spoons, and a few quiet minutes at the table.
This recipe is from At Home in Provence, a cookbook that captures the laid-back rhythm and quiet beauty of life in the South of France. Get the book here and start with the granita. It’s summer, in a melon shell.
Also see: Our guide to Lou Calen in Cotignac for more inspiration from Provence.
“Simple and refreshing, this cantaloupe granita is summer in a melon bowl. The perfect end to a relaxed lunch together or to be served in the afternoon by the pool.”
Cantaloupe Melon and Lime Granita
Ingredients
- 100 g 3½ oz/scant ½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 100 ml 3½ fl oz/scant ½ cup water
- 2 cantaloupe melons
- juice of 2 limes plus zest of 1
Instructions
- Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Cut the melons in half through the ‘waist’ and scoop out the seeds and discard them, then scoop out most of the flesh into the bowl of a food processor.
- Leave a wall of flesh inside the melon, about 1 cm (½ in) thick (so not scooping out right to the skin). Blend the flesh, adding the cool sugar syrup and the lime juice and zest. Reserve the hollowed-out melons, because these will be used as bowls for the granita.
- Pour the blended melon into a container or baking dish that will fit in the freezer.
- Place the four cantaloupe shells in the freezer too. Freeze for 1 hour, then use a fork to scrape the granita mixture. Freeze again and then scrape again. Repeat this two or three times until you have a granita texture.
Excerpted with permission from At Home in Provence by Jeany Cronk. Published by Quadrille, 2025. All rights reserved.