NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — A Strongsville resident with a passion for baking and cooking with olive oil plans to open a culinary school, bakery and boutique with French antiques on West 130th Street in North Royalton.
Jennifer Thornton, founder and owner of Buttercream & Olive Oil, hopes to launch the new location in March.
The business will occupy a 2,600-square-foot building that originally housed a Lawson’s store.
“We have a full half-acre there and green space that we want to revitalize,” Thornton said. “That would be phase two — creating a garden space for our clients.”
The idea, Thornton said, is to grow fresh ingredients onsite.
“It would reflect our philosophy of local and seasonal foods,” Thornton said.
For now, workers are renovating the building, which is off the east side of West 130th just south of West Sprague Road and directly across the street from Strongsville.
The renovation started in October.
Buttercream & Olive Oil isn’t new. Thornton established the business in 2014.
Today, she offers more than two dozen baking and cooking classes, all featuring olive oil.
Students learn how to bake and cook omelets, cakes, French macarons, tarts, burgers, sponge cakes, jams, croissants, puff pastries, biscuits, pies, street foods, cannoli, milkshakes, Nashville hot chicken, fried green tomatoes, cream puffs, éclairs and breads.
Thornton has been renting space at Cool Beans Café in Medina to teach the classes.
Outdoor classes in the summertime have been held at Richardson Farms in Medina and A.B. Phillips & Sons Fruit Farm in Berlin Heights.
“We will keep connections with the farms, and will maybe take class fields trips there, but we will also have outdoor classes at the new place,” Thornton said.
“All of our indoor classes will be in North Royalton.”
Meanwhile, customers can order pastry, olive oil, specialty ingredients and even books and French antiques from the Buttercream & Olive Oil website.
Thornton developed a love of olive oil and French antiques when she moved to France in 2007. It was there that she tasted fresh olive juice for the first time.
For five years, she traveled throughout Europe to attend olive oil classes and conferences. As she learned the harvesting, milling and blending process, her devotion to olive oil grew.
“It’s the only oil that has been produced for thousands of years,” Thornton said. “It’s a fruit juice and has amazing health benefits.
“And it tastes fantastic.”
Thornton has also worked to dispel myths about olive oil.
“People have been told you can’t cook with it,” Thornton said. “It has a smoke point of 400 degrees, so as long as you stay under that, it’s OK.
“I deep-fry only with virgin olive oil.”
In 2010, Thornton made the top 100 in the first season of MasterChef France, a competitive cooking show.
Three years later, she did the same in America’s fourth season of MasterChef, where she was given the nickname “Olive Oil Princess.”
Thornton still visits France for three weeks every year to shop for French antiques, which she added to her business after clients and customers expressed interest in them.
“It’s part of a lifestyle brand, this whole vibe we have created,” Thornton said.
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