Strawberry Shortcakes with Lemon Verbena

a classic summer recipe with an herbal twist

It’s hard to believe strawberry season is already upon us, but I’m not complaining. Seeing these sweet ruby-tone jewels pop up at the market is a surefire way to know summer is here.

Every season they’re such a welcome delight, especially when I get to pick them fresh from the ground, still warm from the sun at our CSA.

Now that they’ve hit the market, I’ve been excitedly adding them to my basket.

I find that the first strawberries of the season tend to need a bit more time to develop peak flavor, so they’ll need a little doctoring up.

An easy way to add more sweetness and flavor is to macerate the fresh berries in a little sugar. This helps to release their juices create a lovely strawberry syrup that can be drizzled on all sorts of desserts.

If you want to add another layer of flavor to a strawberry dish, try adding some fresh herbs. I had lemon verbena on hand, so I tossed that into the sugar to help bring out more of its lovely lemon-scented qualities.

Lemon verbena is a really nice compliment to the strawberries while still letting them be the star of the dessert.

If you don’t have lemon verbena, try using mint, tulsi, tarragon, or chamomile instead. However, I would recommend adding a lemon verbena plant to your garden or keeping a pot of it on the porch because it’s such a lovely summertime herb you’ll find lots of uses for.

Native to South America, lemon verbena has a long history of use throughout many cultures across the globe. And it’s easy to see why once you start working with it.

Not only is its lemony scent and flavor lovely to use in sweet or savory dishes, but its affinity to support digestive discomfort makes it a wonderful ally to keep in the kitchen.

I like to sip on a cup of lemon verbena tea after a heavy meal or if something I ate didn’t quite agree with me. It also makes a lovely chilled tea to enjoy on hot days while working in the garden.

For this recipe, I combined the strawberries, sugar, and fresh lemon verbena in a bowl and then let them sit while I prepped the shortcakes.

I went for a simple sweet drop biscuit here and it only took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Drop biscuits are great to make when you’re short on time and patience. There’s no kneading or cutting needed and you get all that buttery biscuit flavor.

You could definitely add other ingredients to the biscuits if you wanted to make this even more special. I could see poppy seeds or a little lavender being a nice touch.

Served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream, these simple Strawberry Shortcakes with Lemon Verbena make a perfect summertime dessert easy enough to make on a weeknight.