In the garden today looking for the first signs of fruit and smelling nothing but garlic chives, I figure the Outer Cape’s first strawberries are still about three weeks out. They’ve been flowering for over a week.

I try not to think about the kitchen garden I used to visit at my friend Jaume’s in Madremanya, a Catalan town not far from Girona. I was lucky to go there for my job. My mind wanders, though. Right about now, I imagine, people there are doing nothing but bathing in rose petals and eating fruits vermells, the red fruits of early summer.

Jaume made a dessert that’s as pink and tart as that fantasy: a fresh strawberry and raspberry soup whose juiciness is gelled with agar-agar. It’s got a little kitchen garden whiff of herbs and flowers, too. It’s perfect for Mother’s Day, even though making it on Outer Cape Cod in May means giving in to berries imported from Mexico or the West Coast.

The soup looks dressed up, but the recipe involves little more than boiling water and waiting: about the same level of technique deployed in stirring ice cubes into Jell-O — the first cooking my mom allowed me to do. It’s really just a matter of finding the agar-agar, a hibiscus tea blend, and decent fruit. In June, when the fruit is local, rose petals from the front yard, untainted by whatever they put on the florist kind, will make a nice garnish.

Agar-agar is a thickener confectioners use. It’s made from seaweed, but it doesn’t smell or taste like it (or like anything — it’s flavorless). It’s a substitute for gelatin, which some people don’t use because it contains collagen. Agar-agar works a little differently than gelatin does: the liquid you’re gelling with it has to come to a boil, but then it sets without refrigeration. They stock it at the Orleans Whole Food store.

The recipe starts with a tart rosehip and hibiscus herbal tea — hibiscus petals can be had by the bagful at Atlantic Spice in Truro. Or if you’re the Birkenstock type, that Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger that’s been in your pantry all winter works fine.

RED FRUIT SOUP
Serves 6

4½ cups water
¾ cup (2 oz.) hibiscus and rosehip tea blend
½ cup + 3 Tbsp. sugar (the quantities will be used separately)
2 heaping Tbsp. agar-agar flakes
3 cups diced red fruits (strawberries, raspberries halved, and/or red currants)
1 Tbsp. minced mint leaves

1. Put the water in a saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil. Now add the sugar, the agar-agar, and the hibiscus-rosehip blend to the pot; give it all a quick stir, then turn off the heat.
Let the mixture steep for about 30 minutes to infuse the flavors and cool down. Pour the liquid through a strainer into a bowl and toss the bits of rosehip and hibiscus petals. Refrigerate the clear pink-red “tea” for at least six hours or overnight.
2. A few hours before serving, combine the diced red fruits with the remaining three tablespoons of sugar and the minced mint. Get it all macerating at least an hour before you want to serve dessert so the sugar dissolves and the fruit gets nice and syrupy.
3. If the gelled hibiscus tea is spoonable, you’re all set. If it’s too firm, blend it for a few seconds (if you have an immersion blender, you can give it a whirl right in the bowl). You want a smooth but still slightly thickened purée.
4. The soup is best served cold. Stash both the puréed base and the macerated fruit in the fridge while lunch or dinner is made and eaten. Serve by piling a scoop of the fruit into the center of your soup bowls, then pouring the cold puree around it. A little sprig of mint can decorate each bowl, or not.