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Truffles By Tarah Pop-Up Opens in Pittsfield

Boxed up truffles for holiday gifting.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tarah Warner hand rolls and dips as many as 1,000 truffles per week. 

Throughout November and December, her treats will be available at a pop-up store in the downtown.

On Friday, the ribbon was cut for Truffles by Tarah at 48 North St. Offerings range from classic favorites such as dark chocolate to lavender lemonade.

"I'm just really excited to highlight locally sourced ingredients and to do the fun, interesting flavors that I've always been told nobody wants to try," Warner said.

"Things like the lavender lemonade, where people are like, 'No one's going to eat that, that's weird,' and then magic, people really like it, and now it's the holiday season so all those really fun winter flavors, the peppermint, the eggnog. It's really nice to be able to play with seasonal flavors and seasonal ingredients."

Born in raised in Berkshire County, Warner is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., with a degree in baking and pastry. She has worked at a chocolatier for 14 years, for some time at Mielke Confections in South County before it closed.

Her business is about two years old and before the pop-up, sold her treats at farmers and makers markets.

While chocolate can't be sourced from this region, Warner uses local ingredients when possible to flavor the truffles. Her first curated collection was a "Berkshire Box" that includes five truffles with locally sourced ingredients.

Pittsfield City Council Weighs in on 'Crisis' in Public Schools

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:59PM / Monday, December 23, 2024

A half-dozen people addressed the City Council from the floor of Monday's meeting, including Valerie Anderson, right.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After expressing anger and outrage and making numerous calls for accountability and transparency, the 11 members of the City Council on Monday voted to support the School Committee in seeking an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct by staff members at Pittsfield High School that have come to light in recent weeks.

 

At the close of a month that has seen three PHS administrators put on administrative leave, including one who was arrested on drug trafficking charges, the revelation that the district is facing a civil lawsuit over inappropriate conduct by a former teacher and that a staff member who left earlier in the year is also under investigation at his current workplace, the majority of the council felt compelled to speak up about the situation.

 

"While the City Council does not have jurisdiction over the schools … we have a duty to raise our voices and amplify your concerns and ensure this crisis is met with the urgency it demands," Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said.

 

About two dozen community members attended the special meeting of the council, which had a single agenda item.

 

Four of the councilors precipitated the meeting with a motion that the council join the School Committee in its search for an investigation and that the council, "be included in the delivery of any disclosures, interim reports or findings submitted to the city."

 

Last week, the School Committee decided to launch that investigation. On Monday, City Council President Peter White said the School Committee has a meeting scheduled for Dec. 30 to authorize its chair to enter negotiations with the Springfield law firm of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas to conduct that probe.

 

Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre, the principal author of the motion of support, was one of several members who noted that the investigation process will take time, and she, like Kavey, acknowledged that the council has no power over the public schools beyond its approval of the annual district budget.