Transcript
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Today, our guest is Rasha Younan.
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She's the owner and chocolatier of Bon Chocolats.
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Chocolate is her passion.
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She says, I thrive to create high quality chocolate bonbons and confections from the finest ingredients, all natural ingredients with no preservatives.
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I enjoy chocolate so much that I want to share it with people.
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I'm an architect by trade and a chocolatier by passion.
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Starting my journey of chocolate making as a professional chocolatier has been one of the most fulfilling and interesting adventures of my life.
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Welcome Rasha to the show.
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Thank you, Michael.
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Thank you so much.
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I'm really excited and happy to be here.
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I love podcasts so much.
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Especially with you.
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I'm really thrilled to be here.
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. Thank you.
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Is this your first time being on a podcast?
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Yes, it is my first time.
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.
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Michael Dugan: I encourage you to do to get the word out about your passion.
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Let's start out with Did you have any kind of early connection to food growing up as a child, any special dish, maybe chocolate, dessert or any, anything?
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When I think about my childhood.
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So I grew up in Egypt and I moved here in 2006, but growing up in Egypt, I was, And like middle class family.
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And I always remember my father bringing us candy or imported chocolate from his travels.
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So whenever he travels for business and it was inside Egypt, he didn't travel for outside of the country much, but he would travel to other cities in Egypt and they have imported.
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Chocolates.
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And he will bring this to us.
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So the two really, that was very early in my childhood.
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The two early memories is eating kinder eggs.
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I don't know if you're familiar with them.
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No,
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it's available in markets right now in the U S and it's a Swiss.
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Chocolate.
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And it's shaped like a candy, excuse me, like an egg.
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And it has.
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Milk chocolate exterior and white chocolate interior.
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And it's a shell, so it's very thin, but it's delicious and it's fulfilling.
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And inside the egg, it has a toy, small, tiny toy that you have to tinker with it to build it up and then play with it.
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So it was like a small, very small, tiny toy inside that kinder egg.
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And I had a box full of those toys.
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I was saving them and collecting them.
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And also I remember another treat that my father would bring is like a small container that has chocolate spread.
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It's something similar to Nutella, but it wasn't Nutella.
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It was very small.
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Dish was a tiny spoon.
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It's like a couple of bites, but I always remember not eating too much because those candies are not huge in size, but it's, but it was fulfilling.
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It was nice and I always remember my mom.
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She didn't like us to eat a lot of junk foods and a lot of sugar.
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And then we would eat mostly homemade or home cooked meals, but she, Didn't say anything about chocolate.
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Chocolate was fine in our home.
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So chocolate wasn't like a junk food or a processed food.
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If you want to, if you want to say, and this is to some extent true, but of course, people now they have to look at the ingredients when they buy their chocolates, they need to make sure that it's real chocolate doesn't have a lot of added ingredients that not.
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It's unnecessary and it's good quality chocolate.
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I always say chocolate is not necessarily candy.
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It's not full of sugar, but you have to look at the ingredients and you have to know where you're getting your chocolate and what's the resources and what's the story behind it.
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Who makes it and how they make it and what's in it.
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.
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Michael Dugan: Wow.
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Wow.
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That's amazing.
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We're going to talk a lot about chocolate today, but just so we can get to know you when you were growing up.
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What did you aspire to be as a child and then carrying forward in life?
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What did you end up doing as an adult?
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So I always wanted to work in design or in a creative profession.
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. So I loved crafting or crafts, making crafts and I used to draw a lot.
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So I always wanted to be something related to design and creative job.
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And I wanted to be an interior design, but I ended up going to architecture school, which was perfect for me.
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I entered architecture college in Egypt and then I moved here and I started working as an architect and it's a fun journey with each project it's very creative, but also has another aspect of it That's not all about creativity, but also about public health and making sure the design fits the people who's going to use it and all of that.
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So it's, I got exposed as my career developed into the technical aspect of being an architect, which was really.
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Fulfilling and good too.
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Wow.
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So how did you end up going from being an architect to having this passion for chocolate and becoming a chocolatier?
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Can you tell us a little bit about the story?
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I love to find out the roots of why people do what they do in the culinary world.
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So share a little bit about that.
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Beside like to eat chocolate and enjoy chocolate.
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From
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childhood, apparently.
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I.
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It happens that I was a Girl Scout troop leader for my daughter's troop, and we were always looking for fun activities to do with the girls to get them exposed to different experiences.
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We did a candy making class with them.
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So it was like melts and It was a local place in Bothell, and now they moved to Lynwood.
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It's called , Dawn Candy and Cakes.
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They still do some of those classes.
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And the girls had a blast just making their own candies, mold, like taking the candy melts and put them into molds and create a box of candy.
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And I noticed that they have.
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An adult class that's called chocolate truffles.
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So I took that class and I went to actually by myself.
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I just wanted to learn and wanted to try that because we had so much fun in the candy making class with the girls.
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So I said, no, I want to do that as, and it's going to be like a time for me, not for necessarily with the kids.
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So I took that class and this was back in 2013, 2014.
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And I loved this class, it was two hours or maybe more of fun, just making truffles, playing with the flavors and adding ingredients and decorating the truffles.
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And I think I still have a picture of that box that I went home with.
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It was a large quantity of, I don't remember how many truffles, but it was a experience.
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And what I loved this class is Playing with the flavors, adding and combining different flavors with chocolate.
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And of course, at that class, we used just one type of chocolate, I wanted to learn more about chocolate and what does it mean to temper chocolate?
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What's the different origins of chocolate and how, what is chocolate making and all of that.
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So I start reading and doing research and then I decided I want to do this.
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I want to learn more about this.
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The free information is not good.
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Getting me as much as I want.
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So I signed up and took a chocolatier class.
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It was called Chocolat and they are located in Vancouver.
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And it was, I believe it was a six months class.
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I don't remember.
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. And that was in 2016 and it was a lovely experience.
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And then after that, I start just making chocolate for me and my, for my friends and getting experiencing different flavors and different designs and different ways to make the bonbons, which are chocolate truffles in a mold.
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So if it's, if chocolate ganache is rolled and dipped in chocolate or covered in like cocoa powder, that's a chocolate truffle.
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But if it's molded, then it's a chocolate bonbon.
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So that's how I started.
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I'm happy that I decided to go professionally and took that class, but at that point in my life, I wasn't, I didn't have a decision to open my own chocolate business.
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It was just for me knowing more about chocolate.
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And of course, That triggers like getting exposed to different chocolate makers and different crafts and experiencing a little bit more about chocolate origins and different tastes and all of that.
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How do you collaborate with a chocolate maker?
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And what is a chocolate maker?
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Is it being the bar?
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Is it?
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I'm just trying to visualize
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Chocolate Maker is Bean to Bar, like Theo Chocolate or right now Spanaker Chocolates in Seattle.
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They are Bean to Bar local and I actually work with them.
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So I take some of their chocolate that they make and make it into chocolate bonbons.
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Cool.
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That's how we collaborate.
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I take the chocolate they make and I, as a chocolatier, I get to choose what chocolate to use based on the different tastes and different percentage of cocoa and all of that.
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The reason I ask is because a while back I did an interview with a chef, a chocolatier, but he's a chef and his name is Chef Jeffray.
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Gardner and chef Jeffray is out of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles area,
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and he has
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a company called Marsatta chocolate and he creates chocolate from the bean.
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So he
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does the whole thing and the
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interesting
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story about him is that he was a hockey player And then he had this passion for chocolate and he connected with his wife and they built this business.
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And I should connect you.
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He's a really nice guy.
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I just, I love him.
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And I met him on clubhouse, which is an audio only app about two years ago.
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And
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he was wrapping chocolate during the interview.
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So there's a little bit of sound there that kind of, it's what is the sound, but it's actually live.
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where he's wrapping chocolate.
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So it's cool.
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Oh, nice.
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You just made me
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think of that.
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So that's where that question.
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Some chocolatiers will make their own chocolate from Bean to Bar.
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That's a lot.
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That's full time.
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It's a lot.
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And I just want to focus on just creating bonbons and confections for now.
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And you never know what will happen in the future.
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I liking the idea of choosing from what's.
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Out there and not be just solo limited with what I do, of course, what chocolate makers like make different flavors and create a lot of different chocolates, but I like just, I can go and choose the best or the best in my opinion and also be.
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mindful of the sustainability issue in chocolate or in the cocoa business and all of that and choose what, which chocolates I like to use to create my confections or my bonbons.
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So at least this is where I am right now.
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That's great.
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. Specific area.
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And so can you share a little bit about the story behind the name and the concept?
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Of what you do, was it hard to create the name?
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I know for voice for chefs is very difficult because so many names are sticking out there and it just came to me one day and I had some friends help and we put it together.
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But how did you come up with the name and what does that mean to you?
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So coming up with the name was very hard, starting up, I just wanted the name to be easy for people to remember and to have chocolate in it.
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So that's why I didn't use my name because I just wanted chocolate in it.
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And I always go for simple stuff.
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I don't like complicated things.
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I don't know, but.
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I said, what about good chocolates?
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Okay.
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So Bon Chocolat means good chocolates, but I used a French name just to make it because the confections I make is European inspired.
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So that's where the French word comes from.
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It comes from and why French?
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Because I speak French as well.
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I didn't want to use a language that I'm not familiar with.
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So I use Bon Chocolat and I added the S at the end.
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So Bon Chocolat, it should be in the French language, the S is the adjective follows the name.
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So Bon Chocolat will have S in the Bon and S in the chocolate or chocolat.
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But I decided I don't want to add the S in the Bon because it's going to be like too unfamiliar to people.
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Too confusing globally.
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I think.
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Yeah.
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I
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decided to take the S of Bon and just keep it Bon Chocolat, which translates to Bon Chocolats in English.
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No, that's great.
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And can you walk us through a little bit of the creative process when you develop chocolate flavors?
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Cause you have some really great flavors like pistachio and strawberry champagne, and I've tried them.
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I love them.
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I gave them as a gift to my wife for Valentine's and she offered a few to me.
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Can you share a little bit about the development of flavors, the ideas behind that?
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, Rasha Younan: I'm happy to hear and wife did like the chocolate.
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I find a lot of things inspiring to me when it comes to flavors.
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But the most important thing is when you try something and you like, and then you think, what can I combine this with or which chocolate I can combine this flavor with?
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I started with doing just the classic flavors like raspberry, the caramel, although it's, I have my own twist on them, but it's, I started with the classic flavors and then Start adding some innovative flavors like the cardamom I have, it's very popular too.
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It's cardamom and vanilla, but it's, you really taste the cardamom and the strawberry champagne, of course, and the pistachio sherry.
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Pistachio is really good.
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Oh
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This is one of my favorite and the best.
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I have people asking about it all the time.
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Love it.
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And I think what I really after is balance in flavor.
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So I don't like to something to be overly sweet or overly bitter.
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So that's what I'm aiming for.
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So when, whenever I create a new creation or a new bonbon, I'm always looking how to balance the flavors out.
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Not to be too sweet or not to be too salty, not to be too bitter.
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Just balance.
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I think this is it.
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. The balance is very important for me.
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And who are your customers?
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Where do they come from?
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So before, right now I have a location in Bothell, downtown.
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We just opened recently, but before that, since I started my business, I've been doing like artisan markets and crafter markets.
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So I would meet people and they can try my chocolate or buy it.
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And it's a very, I love those crafter markets because it's the connection with people.
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I'm there.
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And the people are there and asking questions and I'm interacting with them and telling them about my chocolate.
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This is where my base customers came from, just crafter markets, artesian markets.
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And I think it's becoming, getting like word of mouth right now.
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So people are telling, we're sharing the chocolate.
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Cause a lot of people, or all of my customers just buy the chocolate for someone else to give as gift, which is.
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I love that.
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Also I have an Instagram and Facebook page.
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So I think that is where I connect with my clients.
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That's wonderful.
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Your chocolates are amazing.
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I was going to say it only lasted two days, the whole box, two days.
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We just kept eating them and my wife said, do you want another one?
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, they were really good.
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We devoured them.
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Oh, thank you.
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The flavors are just so unique
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and
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it's like you handpicked those flavors.
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And that's what I saw and I was impressed by there's a coffee one too, I think my favorite is one of the Carmel's, but I love salted Carmel.
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I love Carmel, but the hazelnut was good too.
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Anyway, so as we go on, can you share any memorable experience or story related to your journey as a chocolatier?
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I have a lot of good memories, but the one that sticks to me right now is I remember when I was taking the chocolatier professional class and I, we had to have homework and hands on experience.
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And one of the homework exercises was.
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To do a chocolate tasting event or party where I host the tasting and I try the tasting as well with a few people, like three or five people and try different chocolates and we write down what's the aromas, what is the flavors, which one we like better and all of that.
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So I remember just preparing for that.
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event or that party and inviting my friends over.
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And it was so much fun to go and select different chocolates from supermarket or from crafter or like more sophisticated chocolate printing the papers that we're going to put the chocolate on and write what we taste.