Gelo di melone - Memory of a summer day

gooline project

I’ve been familiar to this recipe by chance…
It was a hot sunday morning in summer 2015. My friend and I decided to ride our scooter to the Oglio river near Palazzolo and there have a swim. Around midday other friends of us joined us and we had our bag lunch all toghether and after that we started getting fun diving and swimming in the river. After taking some pictures and selfies, it was time to go back home. When we climbed on our scooter again my friend and I realised that it didn’t start. We tried and tried again but it definitively left us walking home. So we had to push it for about 2 km until the house of my friend’s granny. She soon noticed we were very tired after the effort so she offered us a refreshing traditional dessert from Palermo. It’s called “gelo di melone”, a kind of watermelon pudding with chocolate chips on the top combined with a glass of black cherry sparkling syrup. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately asked her the recipe. Here it is, except the quantities of the ingredients because, my friend's grandmother said, "they are a secret".

 
Ingredients:

Watermelon
Cornstarch
Sugar
Chocolate chips

Preparation:

Grate the watermelon, separating the juice from the pulp and the seeds.
Pour the juice into a small pot, heat it adding the cornstarch and the sugar until you get a thick and jelly-like mixture.
Pour the  mixture into proper molds and garnish with the chocolate chips.
Once it's cooled down, leave it to rest in the fridge for at least two or three hours.
Finally serve the "gelo di melone" with a glass of black cherry syrup (possibly diluted with sparkling water) to accompany it.

Glossary

by chanche: without plan or intent; accidentally.
to join: to come into the company of; meet or accompany; to participate with (someone) in some act or activity; to take part with others
bag lunch: a lunch meal made at home or bought and brought to work or another activity in a paper bag or similar container
to dive: to jump quickly into water, especially headfirst
to realise: to understand clearly
effort: something done by hard physical work
watermelon: a large melon with a hard, green rind and sweet, juicy, usually red pulp
pudding: a soft jelly-like dessert, usually made with milk, sugar, flour, and flavoring
syrup: a thick, sweet liquid consisting of fruit juices, water, etc., boiled with sugar
starch: a white, tasteless chemical substance in plants, forming an important component of rice, corn, wheat, and many other vegetable foods, used for thickening gravies and sauces, making puddings, ecc...
jelly: a savoury food preparation set with gelatine or with a strong gelatinous stock and having a soft elastic consistency
mold: a empty form for giving a particular shape to a liquid or a soft substance
to cool down: to reduce temperature
to rest: to relax, to sleep, to take a break