Strawberry

This dessert is like a frozen mousse, which helps explain its name: semifreddo, or "half-frozen."

In this dessert from Cafe Paradiso, pink peppercorns give the meringues a subtle floral flavor.

Serve the compote over vanilla or strawberry ice cream, angel food cake, pancakes, or waffles.

These are made with wedges of a moist, rich cake and served with a sauce that blends cooked and fresh strawberries.

Rhubarb and strawberries usually meet in late-spring pies. This dessert plays on the combination's sophistication. When roasted, rhubarb becomes more intense in flavor and color while still retaining its shape. Rose water contributes a floral delicacy (use it sparingly; a little goes a long way), and strawberry sorbet imparts a cool note.

Savor healthy sweets

Hot milk cake is an easy, old-fashioned dessert that has simple, modern appeal. The moist, delicate cake gets its name from the hot milk that is added to the batter just before baking. In this recipe, the individual cakes are split, then topped with berries and whipped cream.

Just a few minutes in a hot skillet gives the sauce a complex flavor. If you've got an extra minute or two, skip the chocolate chips and garnish the sundaes with chocolate curls shaved off the edge of a chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler.

A little bit of olive oil makes this cake especially moist.

We love to make sorbet when local berries are in season. The Simple Sugar Syrup keeps in your fridge for weeks.

Rosé wine with fresh fruit adds the right touch to this spiced-up menu.

Assemble the berries and yogurt up to a few hours ahead, then pour the caramel over shortly before serving.

Commercial fruit vinegars usually employ cooked fruit, resulting in a heavy, jammy, and not-so-nuanced flavor. We made our vinegar with uncooked berries, so it retains that fresh-from-the-patch essence.

Spinach and strawberry salad had its moment in the '80s, but this version will surprise you with its refinement. The salad is not sweet, just aromatic — and coming across fresh berries every now and then provides bursts of fruitiness. The pecans are simply toasted, but once they're coated with vinaigrette, you'd swear they were candied. Raspberries would work well here, too.

This recipe was created by chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill restaurant in New York City and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York. It's part of a special menu he created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. For this Summer dessert, Chef Barber suggests experimenting with any seasonal berry.