Fig Ice Cream

I am in one of my ‘exotic fruits’ craving moods. Here as but a few of the fruits I have been eating lately. If you don’t recognize them all they will soon be featured on Cheap Ethnic Eatz.

Figs are on my top 5 favorite fruits of a ll times, fresh figs that is. Finding nice fresh figs in Quebec can be a challenge but last week-end I went to one of our farmer’s markets called Marché Jean-Talon. One stall was selling 2 fig containers for $5, I bought 4 containers.

I had a specific fig memory. It was October 2003 and I was in Carcasonne (South West of France)  with my mother on holiday. We were in a square that doubled as a small market. My mom and I bought a bag of super ripe figs for so cheap. We just ate the whole bag in a matter of minutes. Some figs were so ripe the skin of the fruit ripped and oozed sweet juices out into the bag. It was a messy snack but one of the best I ever had. I never found such ripe figs here but the ones I bought at the market lat week were close. I knew I wanted to eat most of them fresh but I had visions of Fig Ice Cream.

Fig Ice Cream

Adapted from From David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients

1 lbs fresh figs
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk or heavy cream

Directions

Remove the hard stem ends from the figs, then cut each fig into 8 pieces. Put the figs in a medium pan with the water, sugar and lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes until the figs are tender. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Blend together with milk or cream. Chill in the fridge and then put in your ice cream maker per the manufacturer’s instructions.

How did it turn out? It is just simply sublime. I actually used milk and a bit of left over sour cream. The cooking of the figs first bring it half way to a jam consistency which I believe is the key of success in this recipe. Try it, you will not regret it.

Did you know  he edible fig is one of the first plants that was cultivated by humans and that it is native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region? But it has adapted quite well to the climate of Louisiana, California, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, and Washington in the United States, south-western British Columbia in Canada, Nuevo León and Coahuila in northeastern Mexico, as well as Australia, Chile, and South Africa. A good thing since figs do not transport well. Before figs were introduced to other parts of the world the only way they could be enjoyed is dried.