Here in Ontario, locally grown strawberries are in season and I had to buy a box of them. I love strawberries (who doesn’t) and I’m taken back to memories of eating them from our home’s strawberry patch when I was a kid. I even remember being impatient and even eating the green ones!

This recipe works only with ripe, in season & flavourful strawberries so go out & get’em! I’ve adapted another recipe from Jacques Pepin’s The Short-Cut Cook and I’m using cranberry tea instead of orange pekoe.

Strawberries in Cranberry Tea

1/2 cup water
1 cranberry tea bag (Higgins & Burke)
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 pint strawberries, cleaned & hulled
Sour cream or whipped cream for garnish

1. Bring the water to a boil, pour over the tea bag in a mixing bowl, and allow the mixture to steep, covered for 5 minutes.
2. Remove the tea bag and stir in the apricot preserves and the strawberries. Set aside to macerate at room temperature for at least 1 hour or overnight (better results).
3. Serve “as is” or on top of a lemon pound cake, garnished with whipped cream.