We had a sweet group visit our farm from out of town and they wanted to celebrate a birthday with a farm tour and lunch out in the blueberry rows. This compote was the perfect addition on top of shortbread with fresh whipped cream to end the meal.

Strawberry Bluebarb Compote

• 1 pound rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 pint Albion Strawberries, tops removed & quartered
• 10 cardamom pods (remove pods & gently crush seeds with a mortar) or 2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup Organic Frozen Blueberries
• 3 tablespoons honey (more or less to taste)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Place the rhubarb, strawberries, cardamom, sugar, and water in a sauce pan
2. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb is tender
3. Add the blueberries and cook gently until blueberries are soft, but haven’t lost their shape
4. Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla and honey to taste. This amount of sugar & honey kept the compote on the tart side so if you prefer sweeter, add more honey.
5. Serve warm or cold. We made this the night before to give the cardamom flavor time to develop. You can easily warm the compote up on the stove before serving if you've made it ahead.

Rhubarb usually appears before the strawberries in the spring so you could use frozen strawberries in this compote, just adjust the cooking time accordingly. Strawberries were just becoming available in Western Washington so I had an extra pint for slicing fresh over the shortcake along with the compote.