What is the minimum age to attend?

Participants must be at least 16 years old.

How long is the workshop?

The class runs approximately two hours.

What is the cancellation policy?

Refunds can be requested up to seven days before the workshop; a 10% cancellation fee applies.

Will I take home any lavender products?

Yes—participants leave with lavender staples and recipes to use at home.

Who can I contact with questions?

Contact Chloe Watts at 423-493-9155 or cwatts@crabtreefarms.org for booking and questions.

Cook with Culinary Lavender at Crabtree Farms — Hands-On Workshop with Alice Marrin | Cooking Class | Workshop

Crabtree Farms of Chattanooga, at 1000 E 30th Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee, hosts a focused, two-hour workshop that turns culinary lavender from garden curiosity into a tool you’ll reach for at home. Led by Alice Marrin of Lookout Lavender Farm, the class teaches participants how to build lavender into drinks, appetizers, mains and desserts, and sends each student home with lavender staples to continue experimenting.

The classroom is a farm: tables set near the Crabtree Farms store, the city’s community farm breathing green life into an industrial corridor. You’ll smell lavender first—herbaceous, lightly sweet—and learn how different cultivars and harvest timing influence flavor. Culinary lavender is the star: its silvery foliage, compact buds, and fragrant spikes are ideal for infusing syrups, herb blends, compound butters and baked goods. Alice, who began farming in 2016 on her 55-acre Rising Fawn property and now cares for roughly 1,000 lavender plants, blends practical technique with plant science and cooking finesse.

This workshop fits home cooks and adventurous eaters. The hands-on format walks you through measuring, infusing and balancing lavender’s floral notes against acid, salt and fat. Expect demonstrations of cocktails and iced drinks, a savory appetizer or two, at least one main-course idea, and a dessert that shows how restrained use turns floral into flavor. Recipes and lavender staples go home with you; this is about repeatable skills, not just tasting.

Practical details are clear: the class runs two hours, accommodates up to 20 people, and has a minimum age of 16. Check-in is at Crabtree Farms of Chattanooga • 1000 E 30th Street Chattanooga, TN 37407. Refunds may be requested up to seven days before the workshop with a 10% cancellation fee. For questions, contact Chloe Watts at 423-493-9155 or [email protected].

Why go? Beyond recipes, the workshop connects urban Chattanooga diners to a regional lavender tradition—Alice’s work with the U.S. Lavender Growers Association, including serving on its board and chairing its biennial conference, means you learn from an experienced grower-chef. Whether you want a new party trick, a way to steward locally grown herbs, or simply a different kind of farmers’ market experience, this class offers a practical, plant-forward way to cook with place.

Plan to arrive a few minutes early to browse the Crabtree Farms market and ask about current lavender stock; bloom timing varies but spring-through-summer brings peak color and strongest aromatic oils. The class is not a substitute for a long-form culinary course, but it’s a compact, hands-on primer that demystifies measurements, steep times and flavor balance so you can reproduce recipes at home. Expect to leave with jars, simple recipes, and a clear sense of when lavender lifts a dish and when it overpowers it. Bring culinary curiosity.