It is All About Lavender! And Strawberries – June Updates from Ann
IL Fiorello devotes an entire weekend to celebrating two farm favorites: strawberries and lavender.
This marks the 15th year of the celebration. Nearly 15 years ago, my colleague Denise Revel of Girl on the Hill Malbec and Lavender helped me launch this lovely and blissful weekend. Together, we hope to highlight lavender as a resilient, beautiful, and sustainable plant—especially beloved in France, her home country.
At IL Fiorello, we grow two distinct lavender varieties, Grosso and Provence, along with a small Jean Davis plant that produces pale pink-white blooms. I plan to plant more of this variety soon.
Visit our retail room to explore our scented products. Lavender is soothing, and IL Fiorello’s signature fragrance blends rose and lavender.
Treat yourself to a fabulous strawberry shortcake made with our fresh berries and lavender. Our staff was able to sample this dessert, and we are still dreaming about it. Pastry Chef Amber created three versions, and our favorite was the one topped with fresh berries macerated in Lavender-Strawberry Balsamic. I love fresh berries with just the balsamic and maybe a little whipped mascarpone.
Yes! We are offering a Lavender-Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar Reduction made especially for this weekend. Supplies are very limited, so reserve your 100 ml bottle as soon as possible.
About strawberries!
We grow five distinct strawberry varieties, out of more than 600 known varieties worldwide. One favorite is Warrior, an organic berry developed by the University of California, Davis. It is now commercially available and wonderfully flavorful. Our strawberry patch is blooming and producing fruit, though the quail seem to enjoy it as much as we do—a few berries for them, and a few for us. Strawberries belong to the Rosaceae family, or rose family, and their scientific name is Fragaria (fragrant, strawberry) x ananassa (pineapple).
- Alpine – Italian Alpine flavor like wild strawberry, tropical pineapple and creamy vanilla, a tiny fruit packed with intense flavor
- Warrior – UCD Very strong authentic rich taste
- Chandler- Big and delicious
- Seascape – robust traditional flavor good balance great for chocolate dipping. Fruits in spring, summer, and fall.
- Albion – deep concentrated flavor, hearty fruit with a firm texture and are everbearing.
About Bees!
Our bees are active and produce honey. They love the lavender. We have Russian, Italian, and Caronilian honey bees. Although we lost a few hives this past winter the remaining hives are healthy. We are not sure when we will extract honey this year. Stay tuned for a delicious honey tasting and workshop on extraction. Lots of sticky, delicious fun.
Enjoy this recipe for Lavender Infused Honey