The first time I read Inferno was the first time I fell in love with The Divine Comedy. Personally, I think it's the best part of the collection. Even Robert W. Smith's composition of "The Inferno" is better than his compositions for "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" (though "Paradiso" will always have a place in my heart). (You should listen to all of them on youtube... each song is only about six minutes, and they're all incredible.) 

Maybe it's the part of me that lives for Halloween and all things dark that has me reading and rereading Dante's descent through the nine circles of Hell.

Maybe it's the part of me that loves fanfiction.

You read that right. Fun fact: The Divine Comedy is actually a fanfiction of the bible. The author added himself into the story, as well as many other people that were real (like the poet Virgil, Dante's girlfriend (who had died in real life), a few politicians, a lot of people that opposed Dante's career, etc. ) and expanded on the places and characters of a story most people already knew.

And he did it so well. It's gory and gruesome, and completely unexpected.

Hell having nine circles, each circle with three rings, and getting progressively colder the deeper you go? Genius.

Sprinkle in a lot of shade (saying that his real-life enemies were already in Hell even if they haven't died yet is bold), even more history, and some Greek mythology (to a story about Christianity!), and you have an amazingly complex and entertaining story.

Ice cream felt like the right move with this one... especially since the final circle, the home to traitors, is covered in ice, and the people in it are frozen solid (the biggest being Lucifer, Brutus (who killed Caesar), Cassius, and Judas Iscariot).

I decided to have a vanilla base because I wanted the white to reflect back on the cold from this circle.

I decided to add fresh cherries, not only because the juice is a deep red that could represent blood ( or anger or lust), but because the cherries freeze in the ice cream and, when you bite into them, the feeling reminds me of the scene in Canto 33 where Count Ugolino (another real person... who's also in the treason circle), was half-frozen and forced to gnaw on the head of an Archbishop for the rest of eternity. 

The pitted cherries also remind me of the circles of Hell, with the centers being smaller than the outsides, while also being the darkest and most dangerous parts. Fun fact number 2: Cherry pits contain cyanide. You'll live if you swallow them whole, but, apparently, eating 2-3 cracked or broken pits will kill you.

The more you know. 

I didn't want to just focus on the ninth circle of Hell, though. I wanted to add something from one of the first circles, too.

The third circle is home to those that are punished for gluttony, trapping them in an eternal rain.

Putting bourbon in ice cream seemed like an incredibly gluttonous thing to do, so I did it. And since cherries and bourbon remind me of an Old Fashioned, I decided to add some orange and make this ice cream a spin off of a classic.

Sautéed Cherries

-1 lb  fresh cherries, pitted and sliced

-2 tbsp  sweet orange marmalade

-1 tbsp  bourbon (I used FRDistilling's TX Bourbon, but you can use what you like)

1. Add the marmalade and cherries to a medium-sized frying pan, and place over medium heat.

2. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add the bourbon and stir.

4. Cook for an additional 2-5 minutes.

5. Remove from the heat, and let it cool.

Vanilla Ice Cream

-2 eggs

-2 c  heavy cream

-1 c  whole milk

-3/4 c  white sugar

-1 tsp  vanilla extract

1. Whisk the eggs together for two minutes, letting them get light and fluffy.

2. Slowly add the sugar, 1/8 cup at a time, and whisk it into the eggs until it's completely incorporated.

3. Stir continuously while you slowly pour the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla into the egg mixture.

4. Pour the base into your ice cream maker, and start it. I used my kitchen aid, which only took around 20 minutes. You want the ice cream to still be a little soft so you can fold the cherries into it... it looks a bit like whipped cream.

       5. Pour the ice cream into a long container (I used a baking dish), then pour the cherries on top.

       6. Fold the ice cream over the cherries.

       7. Move the ice cream to freezer-friendly container and cover it with wax paper. This will help prevent ice crystals from appearing.

       8. Put the lid on, and freeze it for six or more hours to let the ice cream get nice and hard.

Serve the ice cream however you'd like to and enjoy your trip through my sweet take on Dante's Hell.