“I was drawn to a crop that was native to our area and a healthy food item that rewarded the consumer with taste and nutrition, but also rewarded the soil and environment on our farm,” says farmer Dylan Branch, who planted his first hazelnut tree in 2011.

Now Branch is behind Ash Creek Oregon, which celebrates the high-quality nuts native to Oregon—where they are called filberts—with offerings like buttery-rich Roasted Hazelnuts and decadent Milk and Dark Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts.

“It wasn’t easy at first, but we got such tremendous feedback on the quality of our product and our growing practices we used to produce it that we knew we were on to something special,” says Branch. “We are still learning every day about the food industry, but in the end we always have been about getting products to the customer directly from the farmer.”

See here for more from the Milk Street Store.

Photos: Courtesy of Ash Creek Oregon.