Italian Ice

Method

1. Put 200 ml of water and 40 g of caster sugar into a small saucepan with a pinch of fine sea salt. Set over a medium heat and stir until the syrup is completely clear and no grains rasp against the spoon, about 3 minutes. Do not let it boil hard or it will reduce and the ice will freeze too soft.
2. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the finely grated zest of 0.5 lemon and leave the syrup to infuse and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Chilling it in the fridge first gives a finer crystal, if you have the time.
3. Squeeze and measure 50 ml of lemon juice and stir it into the cold syrup — never into a warm one, or the fresh flavour dulls. Taste: it should be sharper than you would drink, as freezing mutes both sugar and acid.