Chocolate
to Live For

WHEn lifE givEs sOmE PEOPlE lEmOns, they make lemonade. When life gave chef and farmer Jeff Shepherd berries, he made artful, artisan chocolate. This 20-year veteran of the restaurant business replanted a defunct berry farm in the Applegate Valley region of southern Oregon in 2002, and the berry plants soon delivered.

patrons can shop for chocolate paired with the flavors of blue cheese, chipotle, black pepper, and dried pears from the Rogue Valley, along with traditional favorites like mint and hazelnut. (The rest of us can shop online.)

you and yours love what you taste, but, Shepherd says with pride, “There’s care with every batch, and we use only quality ingredients. Everything is made with love.” 0

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“Everything is made by hand in really small batches,” says Shepherd, and the output is a monumental task for his kitchen staff of just four. For Valentine’s Day, Lillie Belle is putting forth a trio of chocolates in a heart-shaped gift box—a Bing cherry-filled dark chocolate ganache, a nine-spiced Jamaican liquid caramel, and a white chocolate heart covering milk chocolate with a dash of Madagascar vanilla. Not only will

vIdEO

Lillie Belle chocolates combine organic fruit
and chocolate for divine hand-made treats
By karEn sOlOmOn

Shepherd began making extraordinary preserves from his two acres of organic strawberries, marionberries, and raspberries. Then, ready to take things to the next level, he experimented with an organic proprietary chocolate blend, and soon gained popularity for his confections at the local Ashland and Medford farmers markets.

The Chocolatier’s art See Jeff Shepherd demonstrating how he makes his fruit-and-chocolate confections.

Today his summer-ripened berry cordials—the best selling of his 60 varieties of organic chocolates—are a huge critical and chocoholic hit, garnering attention from the New York Times, the Today Show, and a host of other media. He’s moved on from the farmers markets to over 300 stores nationwide, and an entirely posh retail operation that, he says, “looks like a jewelry store,” and which opened in Central Point, Oregon, last December. Here,