Chef Buys An Old Oregon Farm As A Base For His Chocolate Truffle Business

Jacksonville, Oregon - Amid the lush raspberry canes, blueberry bushes and strawberry plants on his two-acre farm, Jeff Shepherd surveys the past and confidently eyes the future.

In an era when several Oregonian berry patches have been abandoned or pulled out, Shepherd is aggressively adding plants at his terraced two-acre haven wedged into the Jackson Creek drainage on Daisy Creek Road in Southern Oregon.

The fruit is a key ingredient in the long-term success of an intertwined venture  hand-made chocolate truffles he began making last summer and organic fruit. While the fruit keeps him close to nature, truffles are far more profitable.

Shepherd and his wife, Belle, moved to the Rogue Valley from Hawaii in 2001 and bought a piece of land that had once prospered with berries and more recently yielded a few wine grapes.

"What I wanted was a few acres of land to grow my own fruits and berries and to utilize them in my chocolate business," says the Southern California native, who has been a chef for 20 of his 40 years.

He bought some equipment, got his domestic kitchen certification and went to work.

His Lillie Belle Farms Hand Made Raspberry Chocolates drew a favorable response at local growers markets. "I couldnt make them fast enough," he says.

Soon, he followed up with a Black Pepper truffle that complements red wine and developed a new market in local wine shops. "Its not as common as wine and cheese," says Paschal Winery estate manager Rene Dobbes, "but people who are into wine know about wine and chocolate, and its quite lovely." Elk Cove Vineyards and the Jacksonville Inn wine shop now stock Lillie Belle truffles. With the help of his marketing consultant, Tina Janke, Lillie Belle Farms has been distributing press releases to wine publications and soliciting wine/gourmet shops nationwide.

"Tina has been great! She does my PR, handles the sales department, and is coordinating with national publications to get the word out, states Shepherd.

Lillie Belle Farms' offerings have expanded to include six different ganache filled truffles and another 7 specialty Belgian Style pralines; many utilizing the fruits of the farm.
Specialty chocolates include cherry cordials: made with Oregon dried cherries soaked in rum, swimming in a hand made white chocolate cream, surrounded by a crisp dark Belgian chocolate shell. Raspberry butterflies, organic raspberry jam floating on top of white chocolate cream, and encased in a dark Belgian chocolate Butterfly shell. A blueberry Crhme made with his own organic blueberries. A Milk Chocolate coated strawberry ganache that is simply outstanding. Peanut butter pyramids- fresh natural peanut butter and just a dash of Oregon honey are entombed in a large dark Belgian chocolate pyramid. Coconut/ginger balls -moist island coconut is laced with a small amount of crystallized ginger and then hand dipped in a rich dark Belgian chocolate and many more.
Because of the fresh nature of the chocolates they have somewhat reduced shelf life which Mr. Shepherd attributes to their special ness. I dont use any extra sugars or corn syrup extenders in my truffles, so what you taste is the fine Belgian Chocolate, the fresh Oregon cream and our berries, states Mr. Shepherd
Having spent considerable time and energy re-planting the property with specialty crops, Mr. Shepherd is currently seeing the fruits of his labors manifest in bumper harvests of red and gold raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, Poha Berries, and grapes.
We completed our second planting this last spring with plans for putting in a large stand of Marion Berries next year. said Mr. Shepherd, The climate and soil are perfect for berries. They are a lot of work, but the end result is spectacular.

By targeting specific markets such as the wine industry and specialty gourmet product stores, Mr. Shepherd