If the word locavore resonates with you, Utah is a fun place to be right now. We have so many great local producers offering everything from organic lamb through handmade chocolates. News recently of another name to keep an eye out for recently came across my desk: Hopscotch. Hopscotch is a flower stand offering fresh cut flowers, but what caught my eye, is that Hopscotch will also focus on providing superior fresh herbs.
As we all know. grocery store selections of herbs can often be far from fresh and have little aroma; which is the magic of having fresh herbs after all. Hopscotch aims to be your go to place to buy both common and more unusual herbs. Joining those familiar faces like basil and thyme will be more exotic options like: lemon gerranium leaves, lemon verbena, anise hyssop, meadowsweet, fresh chamomile and french lavender. Where possible herbs are locally grown, but some of the more exotic selections will be from out of state (CA, OR and WA).
Hopscotch is the latest venture from Lisa Spencer, former pastry chef of Tuscany and former Sous Chef. Lisa first developed a love of quality herbs working as Pastry Chef at Washington’s acclaimed Herbfarm restaurant. Lisa recounted that while at Herbfarm, “One of my favorites was a sparkling, black pansy drinkable gelee. I fell in love with all the herbal/floral possibilities, still to this day, I’m always thinking of what I could do with this and that”.
Hopscotch opened earlier this week, and weather permitting, the hours will be 11am-7pm. Once the weather starts to really heat up, hours will change to 4pm-10 p.m. Stop by, say hello and maybe grab one of their cooling herbal beverages such as a Lavender lemonade.
Hopscotch
941 E 900 S Salt Lake City, 84105
(on the lawn of “The Square Nest”)
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
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How locavore can you be if you eat chocolate?
I’ve always taken the phrase to be pretty fluid to be honest. For me I take it as anything made, produced or supplied on a local basis – with at least some thoughts toward organic/sustainable/ethical methodologies.
I guess there aren’t many locally produced cocoa beans though 🙂