While winter is in full swing here with snow on the ground and more storms ahead, we can’t help but feel that gentle pull of Springtime and yearn for a bit of sunshine and greenery in the landscape.
While we can’t fast forward to warmer months, we feel our Juniper Lavender bar is the perfect remedy to lift those Winter blues with it’s light, floral notes.
The Juniper Lavender bar, like all our mountain-line bars, is inspired by our love of the Utah mountains.
The beginnings of this bar came from the fact that we’ve always wanted to find a way to include juniper in a chocolate bar. It’s such a beautiful pine-y flavor that we feel captures the essence of the mountains. It can be overpowering, so we did quite a bit of testing to find the right balance and complimentary flavor. We landed on the addition of a local culinary lavender blend, which balances out the juniper with light floral notes.
These two flavors lightly added to our 70% mid mountain chocolate blend, has all the dark chocolate richness with a light Springtime floral finish.
Everything we need to get us through this final stretch of winter.
Pairing suggestion: Jasmine & Oolong Tea
We were lucky enough to connect with our wonderful, Utah neighbors at Lavender Hill in Eden to source the culinary lavender.
We wanted to share their story and passion for lavender.
Carli Brewer, the owner of Lavender Hill, took a moment to share their beginnings and what they are currently working on.
What got you into Lavender Farming and when did you start? Is it a family business? Who is part of the company?
Growing up in the pacific northwest I was surrounded by flower farms, vegetable farms and berry farms. The experience of going to these small businesses, meeting the grower drew me in. After visiting a lavender farm with my parents in 2000 we were intoxicated with its memorable scent and wanted to create this experience for ourselves. We planted a lavender variety that was cold hardy and terraced the rows of lavender up the steep slope of their backyard, hence the name Lavender Hill. We branched out from selling fresh lavender to making a product line that included handmade soaps and lip balms. My parents retired from Lavender Hill in 2017, so I started fresh at my home with new lavender plants. Instead of straight rows I planted four arches of long-stemmed lavender and a rectangle culinary patch. My culinary patch supplies local brewing companies, restaurants and now a chocolate company with my own blend of culinary lavender.
It looks like you have a great array of products. What are the crowd favorites?
Our Lavender Mist body spray is always sold out. It smells of lavender, mandarin orange and peppermint. You can use it as a body spray, room spray or on your pillow before bedtime. Our soaps would come in next on the favorite list. They are made mostly of olive oil scented with only essential oils. All our products are dye free, paraben free, no sulfates (SLS), no synthetic fragrances and handmade in small batches.
Are you coming up with anything new?
Yes, I am almost done formulating my butter bar. It will be a solid lotion bar made of shea butter, cocoa butter and mango butter. You can apply it to your entire body but it is especially useful on your feet right before you put your socks on.
The lavender fields are such a beautiful sight. Do you hold events for people to come out and visit?
Yes, I open my lavender garden by appointment during the month of July. Harvest is usually the first week of August and plant sales start just after Mother’s Day. When it is in bloom people can come and pick their own bunch of fresh lavender for $5.00 (U-pick), photographers can rent the field for pictures by the hour and I offer group garden tours for those interested in my gardening approach. I use a no-dig, herbicide free, pesticide free, Permaculture design in all my gardens.
Do you have any interesting, lesser known facts about lavender you could share?
Most people are unaware that there are hundreds of different types of lavender: short ones, tall ones, white ones, green ones. Some are better for producing essential oils where some are better for culinary use. During my garden tours I always have the guests smell the Lavandula angustifolia 'Coconut Ice’. It is a short pink and white English lavender that smells like sweet sugar.
Please visit their farm or their website to learn more.
Lavender Hill
lavenderhillutah.com
2429 UTAH HIGHWAY 158,
EDEN, UTAH 84310
