When cherries are in season, make fig cherry sauce for ice cream. Learn how to make cherry sauce from fresh cherries and dried figs below.
First, know there are several kinds of fresh cherries—if you visit a farmer’s market you might see dark red Bing, or pale yellow and blush-colored Rainier. Bing cherries are sweet and tangy and bright in taste—the kind of flavor you might think of when you think of cherries. Rainier are sweet but more subtle. And, if you are really lucky, you might happen upon Sour Cherries, which have a complexity all their own. We bring this up to just suggest that depending on the kind of cherry you use, you might want to season accordingly (such as a bit more sugar with sour cherries).
Similarly, you could use Sun-Maid Golden California Dried Figs with their nutty, more subtle sweetness, but our pick would be Mission Figs with their deeper, earthy sweetness that plays so well with the tanginess of cherries. You’re going to love this fruit flavor pairing!
How to Make Cherry Sauce from Fresh Cherries and Dried Figs
You will bring all of the ingredients except for the cornstarch and 1/2 cup of sake to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. The cherries simmer in sake until they start breaking down.
Then, whisk together the cornstarch and 1/2 cup of remaining sake in a small bowl, to be later whisked into the cherries. The sauce will continue to simmer until slightly thickened. You can tell it’s ready when the sauce coats the back of a spoon. At this point, remove the sauce from the heat and cool the sauce for 15 to 30 minutes.
Cherry Sauce for Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream is our pick for the sauce, but we also like the pairing of figs and cherries spooned over chocolate ice cream too—it calls to mind the flavors of a black forest cake.
Serve this sauce with Pound Cake or over vanilla ice cream. Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, reheat in microwave about 2 minutes.
Sake-Simmered Fig Cherry Sauce for Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 lb frozen sweet cherries
- 1 1/2 cup Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs stemmed and chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 2 cups sake
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 2 star anise pods
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Bring cherries, figs, 1 1/2 cups sake, sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, ginger, star anise, and salt to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer until cherries just begin to break down, about 10 minutes.
- Combine cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup of sake in small bowl, then gently whisk into cherry mixture. Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens slightly and coats back of spoon, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, 15 to 30 minutes.
Notes
Valley Fig Growers is a proud sponsor of Cook’s Country TV.
