TRYON MOUNTAIN FARMS
Farmers and Food Artisans:
Tracy and Carolyn Henry
Creating an award winning line of Farm Inspired Seasoning Blends and Simple Syrups wasn't our initial goal when we began helping with upkeep on Carolyn's family farm in 2015; however, ten years later Tryon Mountain Farms is our full time niche business. Growing product ingredients on land that has been sustainably farmed for 60 years (without commercial pesticides or chemical fertilizers) shows the foresight her parents had when they moved onto our farm land in Tryon, North Carolina.
Growing herbs, flowers and vegetables is a year round cycle of seed starting, planting, tending, weeding, harvesting, drying and processing. It is a life rhythm we understand and respect. Somewhere in between this cycle, we stop, find our kitchen clothes and create hand crafted products in our NCDA Certified Kitchen! By focusing on what we can grow, our curated line of small batch specialty products showcases the unique flavors of our farm.
You may find our seasoning salts, simple syrups and herb blends at Farmers and Makers Markets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, through our online store or at Specialty Retailers close by us.
Specialty small batch farm products hearken back to a time where artisanal mountain crafts like agricultural goods, toy making, furniture building and weaving were a notable part of our area's local economy. Today, family farms and small businesses offer diversity to our local food system and promote community. Given these accomplishments, it is easy to figure out that we get a great deal of satisfaction from honoring our mountain traditions and being good stewards of our land.
New Zealand Solar Salt
An aerial view of Lake Grassmere in Marlborough, New Zealand (Tracy Henry, 2016)
We chose to use Lake Grassmere, Marlborough New Zealand in our salt blends as Tracy is a native New Zealander. Growing up in Blenheim, New Zealand, he used to visit the local saltworks at Lake Grassmere on school field trip.
Lake Grassmere Salt utilizes the natural process of sun, wind and concentrating ponds to reach a brine saturation point, a process which takes six months. At the end of each summer, the Sea Salt is carefully harvested to maintain the natural balance of minerals. An onsite refinery rewashes in brine, crushes, dries and screens the salt prior to packaging. On a yearly basis, the flat drying ponds produce some 60-70,000 tons of salt which is shipped around the world.
New Zealand Sea Salt contains higher levels of Calcium, Magnesium and other minerals than normal table salt, as these minerals are naturally present in seawater. New Zealand Sea Salt is certified by Bio-Gro NZ (an IFOAM accredited certifier) as an input in organic food processing16