Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori Stern.
Lori, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Ojai, CA where natural beauty was abundant. My parents had a garden, and I remember being in charge of growing the cherry tomatoes and selling them at the end of our driveway. I was also in charge of fertilizing the roses with coffee grounds. Since those tender days, my journey has meandered from playing professional tennis to working in the fashion industry and then to finding my greatest expression in the culinary world.
In 2010, I started working at an array of different restaurants, hotels, and bakeries to hone in my professional culinary skills. In 2013, I was simultaneously working as a pastry chef at a fancy hotel while taking an edible and medicinal plant class. It was then that I began cooking and baking with edible botanicals.
Since those days, I have found great fascination learning how to cook and bake with edible flowers and herbs– developing different techniques to keep a certain flower’s colors bright while baking or ways to extract the most flavor from an herb for a sauce.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not a smooth road! When I lived in Brooklyn, New York, I would wake up at midnight to head to my baking job. I would get off at 10 am, take a nap, and then head to my fish mongress job which started at 2pm-10pm.
These were long, grueling days but I learned so much and look back fondly that this was my culinary training, which instilled in me a hard work ethic. I wouldn’t change a thing.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a caterer, wedding cake designer and own a bakery business that is quickly growing. My signature flower pressed shortbread cookies have been featured in Vogue Magazine twice, O Magazine (Oprah), Harper’s Bazaar, Goop, etc.
On a busy week, we bake over 2,000 cookies. I’m most proud that I get to do what I love most for work– and that is feed people.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
I would have started working in the culinary industry at an earlier age as my first kitchen job was age 26.
Pricing:
- Flower Pressed Shortbread Cookies = $48/dozen
- Vegan Flower Pressed Chocolates = $60/dozen
- Flower Pressed Wedding Cakes = $13/slice
Contact Info:
- Website: www.loriastern.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Nicki Sebastian
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