Granizados are typical Cuban products prepared with frosted ice that is served in a disposable cup, often made of paper or cardboard, and a fruit-flavored syrup is added.
It is undoubtedly the most popular and refreshing drink that every Cuban has tried to face the hot climate of Cuba. Nothing better than finding a granizados stand at noon after walking for miles or beating a typical Cuban queue. Currently, disposable plastic cups are often used, but many are wary of the hygiene and origin of plastic containers, which do not always come from honest and conscientious hands, but from irresponsible recycling.
I remember that in the past, you could cool off anywhere in Cuba with a delicious granita for only 1 Cuban peso. This drink has always existed in the memory of this island with its perpetual and suffocating heat. Perhaps more than for business, granizados have always been a necessity of Cuba's eternal summer.
Everything seems to indicate that the sale of the mixture of crushed ice and syrup dates back to the early years of the Republic, shortly after the founding of the first two ice factories, La Tropical and La Polar, in Cuba.
Granizados have always been made with crushed ice, on which fruit essences or juices are poured, strawberry, mint, anise, lemon, tamarind, grape and orange among others.
They have always been sold in three-wheeled carts, made of wood or metal, with a roof to cover the seller. Its interior is composed of two parts, in the lower part is placed the ice, which is one of the raw materials of the granita, on the upper compartment there are two shelves where the bottles that transport the liquid are placed. In the city of Trinidad there is an old cart of granizados, precisely like those of the time of the Republic.
To scrape the ice, an iron device called a "cepillo" (brush) is essential. This tool, which in addition to scraping the ice, serves as a measure of what should be served. In some eastern provinces of Cuba, it is called raspado or rasco-rasco.
In today's Havana, self-employed workers follow the tradition, but now having a granizado costs much more than we remember. In any case, people do not resist, and when they come across a granizados seller, they cannot avoid the temptation to taste the most refreshing drink of the Cuban people.
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