Find 'A Taste of Tehachapi' at local events, downtown shop

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A Taste of Tehachapi products are a staple at Dorner Family Vineyard vendor fairs.

Anyone who has attended an event and shopped the vendor booths at Dorner Family Vineyard has come across the name "A Taste of Tehachapi," a business that provides a collection of products that can turn an ordinary meal into a delicious gourmet delight. All of these products are created by Diana Wade who, for the last three years, has created them in her licensed home kitchen in Tehachapi, turning a life-long hobby into a business.

Diana moved to Tehachapi in 2010 with her husband, Doug, looking for a community with facilities that would allow them to keep and ride their horses daily. Diana has been a Legal Document Assistant (LDA) for many years, but her real love is experimenting in the kitchen. Over the years, Diana has developed a myriad of recipes for salts, rubs, marinades, dressings, teas, coffee and seasonal jam. A good friend had been pestering her about selling her jams and spices for several years until she finally agreed to give it a try. It was finally with the encouragement of Michele Dorner that Diana got her Cottage Food Permit from Kern County and A Taste of Tehachapi was born. All of Diana's products are made in small batches without fillers, additives, MSG or anti-caking agents.

Now, three years later, Diana still appears at almost all of the vendor fairs at Dorner Family Vineyard, as well as other events around the Greater Tehachapi area. She says "I love, love, love my repeat customers. They actually look for me at vendor events." In addition, as of the end of 2023, A Taste of Tehachapi products can now be found in Downtown Tehachapi at Miele Apothecary, located at 121 E. F St.

However, all this success has not been without its challenges. One of the most trying is the difficulty of finding a reliable source of the organic products she uses in her recipes; and then there are the increases in shipping costs that need to be factored into her pricing.

As an LDA, Diana advises anyone looking to open a small business in Tehachapi and Kern County to research the laws that relate to your product sales, including DBA research and city and county requirements and permits.