diff --git a/modules/freetype/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/freetype/CMakeLists.txt
index f188dc354..6dd4aaf94 100644
--- a/modules/freetype/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/freetype/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,25 +3,24 @@ if(APPLE_FRAMEWORK)
   ocv_module_disable(freetype)
 endif()
 
-if(PKG_CONFIG_FOUND)
-  pkg_search_module(FREETYPE freetype2)
-  pkg_search_module(HARFBUZZ harfbuzz)
+ocv_check_modules(FREETYPE freetype2)
+ocv_check_modules(HARFBUZZ harfbuzz)
+
+if(OPENCV_INITIAL_PASS)
+  if(NOT FREETYPE_FOUND)
+    message(STATUS "freetype2:   NO")
+  else()
+    message(STATUS "freetype2:   YES (ver ${FREETYPE_VERSION})")
+  endif()
+
+  if(NOT HARFBUZZ_FOUND)
+    message(STATUS "harfbuzz:    NO")
+  else()
+    message(STATUS "harfbuzz:    YES (ver ${HARFBUZZ_VERSION})")
+  endif()
 endif()
 
-if(NOT FREETYPE_FOUND)
-  message(STATUS "freetype2:   NO")
-else()
-  message(STATUS "freetype2:   YES")
-endif()
-
-if(NOT HARFBUZZ_FOUND)
-  message(STATUS "harfbuzz:    NO")
-else()
-  message(STATUS "harfbuzz:    YES")
-endif()
-
-
-if( FREETYPE_FOUND AND HARFBUZZ_FOUND )
+if(FREETYPE_FOUND AND HARFBUZZ_FOUND)
   ocv_define_module(freetype opencv_core opencv_imgproc WRAP python)
   ocv_target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${FREETYPE_LIBRARIES} ${HARFBUZZ_LIBRARIES})
   ocv_include_directories( ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${HARFBUZZ_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
diff --git a/modules/text/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/text/CMakeLists.txt
index 20f9cd752..5619dd41c 100644
--- a/modules/text/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/text/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,10 +2,16 @@ set(the_description "Text Detection and Recognition")
 ocv_define_module(text opencv_ml opencv_imgproc opencv_core opencv_features2d opencv_dnn OPTIONAL opencv_highgui WRAP python java)
 
 if(NOT CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING OR OPENCV_FIND_TESSERACT)
-  set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
-  find_package(Tesseract QUIET)
+  find_package(Tesseract QUIET)  # Prefer CMake's standard locations (including Tesseract_DIR)
+  if(NOT Tesseract_FOUND)
+    include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/FindTesseract.cmake")  # OpenCV's fallback
+  endif()
   if(Tesseract_FOUND)
-    message(STATUS "Tesseract:   YES")
+    if(Tesseract_VERSION)
+      message(STATUS "Tesseract:   YES (ver ${Tesseract_VERSION})")
+    else()
+      message(STATUS "Tesseract:   YES (ver unknown)")
+    endif()
     set(HAVE_TESSERACT 1)
     ocv_include_directories(${Tesseract_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     ocv_target_link_libraries(${the_module} ${Tesseract_LIBRARIES})
diff --git a/modules/text/cmake/FindTesseract.cmake b/modules/text/cmake/FindTesseract.cmake
index 5bdbe2436..65a93ac7a 100644
--- a/modules/text/cmake/FindTesseract.cmake
+++ b/modules/text/cmake/FindTesseract.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # Tesseract OCR
-if(COMMAND pkg_check_modules)
-  pkg_check_modules(Tesseract tesseract lept)
-endif()
+ocv_check_modules(Tesseract tesseract) # lept is excluded (not a direct dependency)
 if(NOT Tesseract_FOUND)
   find_path(Tesseract_INCLUDE_DIR tesseract/baseapi.h
     HINTS