The light is returning. Day and night hang in perfect tension — then, slowly, the rays of sunshine reach farther and longer into our days. Welcome to spring.

Today we're baking a lavender earl grey cake to welcome the new season, and exploring why these ingredients have been woven into ritual and meaning for thousands of years. Food made with intention tastes magical.

A strawberry rhubarb custard pie with rose water and dried rose petals folded into the filling. Rhubarb was once worth four times the price of saffron. The cultivated strawberry didn't exist until the 1750s, and it took a French spy to set it in motion. Some things taste better with a little history in them.