Local offers organic sweet treats

VERNON — Inspired by her passion for food and healthy eating, Lynn Anderson opened Rose Mountain Chocolatier in Vernon which offers sweet treats made with organic ingredients.

The shop's name was inspired by the "sunsets behind the mountains in Vernon that create a beautiful rose color," Anderson said.

Clean eating
"I worked in the insurance industry for 40 years but my heart was in the food industry," she explained. "I started making chocolate about four years ago but after a chocolate making class in northern California, I decided I wanted to make a healthier chocolate with organic ingredients using no GMOs [genetically modified organisms], soy, corn syrup or synthetic ingredients because that is the way we eat at home."

"Organic foods are produced and grown without using antibiotics, growth hormones, genetically modified organisms and produce grown without conventional pesticides or products containing any synthetic ingredients," Anderson said.

The shop also offers vegan options as well.

"Most of our dark chocolate bark and dark chocolate bars are vegan meaning that there are no animal products used in them," Anderson said. "Dark chocolate has great health benefits and antioxidants, but the chocolate and ingredients should be the best quality. The couverture (base chocolate) is imported from Germany where GMOs are banned from the country. The cacao beans are slowly grown on Fair Trade organic shade tree farms in Ecuador which produces a bean with a more intense cocoa flavor. They are processed in Germany using an old world proprietary method. All of our chocolate is made on premises with only the best ingredients and probably the closest you can get to Belgium chocolate without going there."

The shop offers a variety of dark and milk chocolate barks with organic nuts, crispy rice, dried berries, peanut butter cups and truffles sweetened with local honey and agave syrup.

Shop local
While a healthy option is always a good reason when choosing someplace to shop, Anderson is quick to point out another advantage of shopping locally.

“It's all about local, supporting our community and offering the best we can to all our customers,” she said. “It's also about bringing awareness to the community about how important it is that we support, eat organic and GMO free foods for ourselves, our children, grandchildren and future generations.”

More information
Rose Mountain Chocolatier is located at 21 Highland Lakes Road in Vernon. Right now the shop is open on Fridays and Saturdays as well as at some of the local street fairs including the Vernon street fair being organized by the Chamber of Commerce on Main Street this Saturday, May 23.

For more information, check Facebook, Instagram and www.RoseMountainChocolatier.com.