Sorbetto al Fico (Italian Fig Sorbet) A fig is the sweetest fruit on an Italian hillside and almost the least sour, which sounds ideal for a sorbet and is exactly the difficulty. This version keeps the whole fruit, skins included, so the colour comes out deep garnet and the flavour tastes of honey, tea and green fig leaf, sharpened by lemon and finished with a thread of olive oil. It is served cold and slightly soft, in small scoops, at the end of a late summer meal. Yield: a

Homemade Italian fig cream liqueur with ripe figs, honey, vanilla, and cream. Crema di Liquore ai Fichi — homemade cream liqueur by Chef Lyuba Vitelli. Crema di Liquore ai Fichi is a silky homemade cream liqueur centered on ripe figs. The goal is not simply sweetness or thickness. A well-made cream liqueur should show its main aroma immediately, feel smooth but still pourable from the refrigerator, and finish with gentle alcoholic warmth rather than raw spirit. Its natural co

Panettone Ricotta, Fichi e Miele di Castagno (Italian Ricotta, Fig and Chestnut Honey Panettone) Panettone is a Milanese loaf, but this one answers to the south. The dough is leavened the orthodox way, entirely on lievito madre across two mixes and about thirty hours, because nothing else gives that shredding, silken crumb or the keeping quality that goes with it. What changes is everything that goes into it. Dried figs and toasted walnuts replace the candied peel and raisins