EP 70: Exploring the Sweet Art of Chocolate with Rasha Younan

**Guest Bio:**
Rasha Younan is the owner and chocolatier of Bon Chocolats, where she crafts exquisite chocolate bonbons and confections using all-natural ingredients. An Architect by profession, Rasha's passion for chocolate led her to become a chocolatier, creating delectable treats that bring joy to many.

**Key Discussion Points:**

1. **Rasha's Background and Journey:**
   - Transition from architect to chocolatier.
   - The inspiration from childhood memories of enjoying imported chocolates in Egypt.

2. **Chocolate Making Process:**
   - Introduction to chocolate tempering and flavor experimentation.
   - The importance of using high-quality, natural ingredients without preservatives.

3. **The Birth of Bon Chocolats:**
   - Origin and meaning of the name Bon Chocolats.
   - The influence of European-inspired confections and Rasha's French language skills.

4. **Unique and Popular Flavors:**
   - Creation and balance of flavors like pistachio, strawberry champagne, and cardamom vanilla.
   - Importance of balancing sweetness and bitterness in chocolate.

5. **Customer Connection and Community:**
   - Engaging with customers at artisan markets and through social media.
   - The joy of sharing chocolate with others and receiving community support.

6. **Future Aspirations:**
   - Expanding the product line and maintaining quality.
   - Goals for a larger shop and sustainable packaging.

**Memorable Quotes:**
- "Chocolate is not necessarily candy; it's not full of sugar. You have to look at the ingredients and know where your chocolate comes from."
- "Balance is very important for me. When creating a new bonbon, I'm always looking to balance the flavors, not too sweet or too bitter."

**Advice for Aspiring Chocolatiers:**
- Gain a thorough understanding of chocolate and its properties.
- Experiment and practice consistently to improve skills.
- Seek professional training and continue learning.
- Find a mentor and taste a wide variety of chocolates to expand your palate.

**Listener Challenge:**
Try one of Rasha's unique flavors from Bon Chocolats and share your experience on social media. Tag @bonchocolats and @voice4chefs to let us know your favorite!

**Connect with Rasha Younan and Bon Chocolats:**
Instagram: @bon_chocolats
- **Email:** chocolat.seattle@gmail.com

Transcript

Michael Dugan: 0:00

Today, our guest is Rasha Younan. She's the owner and chocolatier of Bon Chocolats. Chocolate is her passion. She says, I thrive to create high quality chocolate bonbons and confections from the finest ingredients, all natural ingredients with no preservatives. I enjoy chocolate so much that I want to share it with people. I'm an architect by trade and a chocolatier by passion. Starting my journey of chocolate making as a professional chocolatier has been one of the most fulfilling and interesting adventures of my life. Welcome Rasha to the show.

Rasha Younan: 0:35

Thank you, Michael. Thank you so much. I'm really excited and happy to be here. I love podcasts so much. Especially with you. I'm really thrilled to be here.. Thank you.

Michael Dugan: 0:46

Is this your first time being on a podcast?

Rasha Younan: 0:49

Yes, it is my first time.. Michael Dugan: I encourage you to do to get the word out about your passion. 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? When I think about my childhood. So I grew up in Egypt and I moved here in 2006, but growing up in Egypt, I was, And like middle class family. And I always remember my father bringing us candy or imported chocolate from his travels. 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. Chocolates. And he will bring this to us. So the two really, that was very early in my childhood. The two early memories is eating kinder eggs. I don't know if you're familiar with them.

Michael Dugan: 1:56

No,

Rasha Younan: 1:57

it's available in markets right now in the U S and it's a Swiss. Chocolate. And it's shaped like a candy, excuse me, like an egg. And it has. Milk chocolate exterior and white chocolate interior. And it's a shell, so it's very thin, but it's delicious and it's fulfilling. 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. So it was like a small, very small, tiny toy inside that kinder egg. And I had a box full of those toys. I was saving them and collecting them. And also I remember another treat that my father would bring is like a small container that has chocolate spread. It's something similar to Nutella, but it wasn't Nutella. It was very small. Dish was a tiny spoon. 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. It was nice and I always remember my mom. She didn't like us to eat a lot of junk foods and a lot of sugar. And then we would eat mostly homemade or home cooked meals, but she, Didn't say anything about chocolate. Chocolate was fine in our home. So chocolate wasn't like a junk food or a processed food. 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. It's unnecessary and it's good quality chocolate. I always say chocolate is not necessarily candy. 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. Who makes it and how they make it and what's in it.. Michael Dugan: Wow. Wow. That's amazing. We're going to talk a lot about chocolate today, but just so we can get to know you when you were growing up. What did you aspire to be as a child and then carrying forward in life? What did you end up doing as an adult? So I always wanted to work in design or in a creative profession.. So I loved crafting or crafts, making crafts and I used to draw a lot. So I always wanted to be something related to design and creative job. And I wanted to be an interior design, but I ended up going to architecture school, which was perfect for me. 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. So it's, I got exposed as my career developed into the technical aspect of being an architect, which was really. Fulfilling and good too.

Michael Dugan: 5:24

Wow. So how did you end up going from being an architect to having this passion for chocolate and becoming a chocolatier? Can you tell us a little bit about the story? I love to find out the roots of why people do what they do in the culinary world. So share a little bit about that.

Rasha Younan: 5:43

Beside like to eat chocolate and enjoy chocolate. From

Michael Dugan: 5:47

childhood, apparently.

Rasha Younan: 5:48

I. 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. We did a candy making class with them. So it was like melts and It was a local place in Bothell, and now they moved to Lynwood. It's called , Dawn Candy and Cakes. They still do some of those classes. 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. And I noticed that they have. An adult class that's called chocolate truffles. So I took that class and I went to actually by myself. I just wanted to learn and wanted to try that because we had so much fun in the candy making class with the girls. 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. So I took that class and this was back in 2013, 2014. 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. And I think I still have a picture of that box that I went home with. It was a large quantity of, I don't remember how many truffles, but it was a experience. And what I loved this class is Playing with the flavors, adding and combining different flavors with chocolate. 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? What's the different origins of chocolate and how, what is chocolate making and all of that. So I start reading and doing research and then I decided I want to do this. I want to learn more about this. The free information is not good. Getting me as much as I want. So I signed up and took a chocolatier class. It was called Chocolat and they are located in Vancouver. And it was, I believe it was a six months class. I don't remember.. And that was in 2016 and it was a lovely experience. 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. So if it's, if chocolate ganache is rolled and dipped in chocolate or covered in like cocoa powder, that's a chocolate truffle. But if it's molded, then it's a chocolate bonbon. So that's how I started. 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. It was just for me knowing more about chocolate. 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.

Michael Dugan: 9:08

How do you collaborate with a chocolate maker? And what is a chocolate maker? Is it being the bar? Is it? I'm just trying to visualize

Rasha Younan: 9:16

Chocolate Maker is Bean to Bar, like Theo Chocolate or right now Spanaker Chocolates in Seattle. They are Bean to Bar local and I actually work with them. So I take some of their chocolate that they make and make it into chocolate bonbons.

Michael Dugan: 9:33

Cool.

Rasha Younan: 9:34

That's how we collaborate. 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.

Michael Dugan: 9:46

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. Gardner and chef Jeffray is out of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles area,

Rasha Younan: 10:02

and he has

Michael Dugan: 10:03

a company called Marsatta chocolate and he creates chocolate from the bean.

Rasha Younan: 10:07

So he

Michael Dugan: 10:08

does the whole thing and the

Rasha Younan: 10:09

interesting

Michael Dugan: 10:11

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. And I should connect you. He's a really nice guy. I just, I love him. And I met him on clubhouse, which is an audio only app about two years ago.

Rasha Younan: 10:29

And

Michael Dugan: 10:29

he was wrapping chocolate during the interview. So there's a little bit of sound there that kind of, it's what is the sound, but it's actually live. where he's wrapping chocolate. So it's cool.

Rasha Younan: 10:39

Oh, nice. You just made me

Michael Dugan: 10:41

think of that. So that's where that question.

Rasha Younan: 10:42

Some chocolatiers will make their own chocolate from Bean to Bar.

Michael Dugan: 10:46

That's a lot. That's full time.

Rasha Younan: 10:47

It's a lot. And I just want to focus on just creating bonbons and confections for now. And you never know what will happen in the future. I liking the idea of choosing from what's. 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. 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. So at least this is where I am right now.

Michael Dugan: 11:35

That's great.. Specific area. And so can you share a little bit about the story behind the name and the concept? Of what you do, was it hard to create the name? 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. But how did you come up with the name and what does that mean to you?

Rasha Younan: 11:59

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. So that's why I didn't use my name because I just wanted chocolate in it. And I always go for simple stuff. I don't like complicated things. I don't know, but. I said, what about good chocolates? Okay. So Bon Chocolat means good chocolates, but I used a French name just to make it because the confections I make is European inspired. So that's where the French word comes from. It comes from and why French? Because I speak French as well. I didn't want to use a language that I'm not familiar with. So I use Bon Chocolat and I added the S at the end. So Bon Chocolat, it should be in the French language, the S is the adjective follows the name. So Bon Chocolat will have S in the Bon and S in the chocolate or chocolat. 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.

Michael Dugan: 13:14

Too confusing globally. I think. Yeah. I

Rasha Younan: 13:16

decided to take the S of Bon and just keep it Bon Chocolat, which translates to Bon Chocolats in English.

Michael Dugan: 13:24

No, that's great. And can you walk us through a little bit of the creative process when you develop chocolate flavors? Cause you have some really great flavors like pistachio and strawberry champagne, and I've tried them. I love them. I gave them as a gift to my wife for Valentine's and she offered a few to me. Can you share a little bit about the development of flavors, the ideas behind that?, Rasha Younan: I'm happy to hear and wife did like the chocolate. I find a lot of things inspiring to me when it comes to flavors. 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? 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. It's cardamom and vanilla, but it's, you really taste the cardamom and the strawberry champagne, of course, and the pistachio sherry. Pistachio is really good. Oh

Rasha Younan: 14:35

This is one of my favorite and the best. I have people asking about it all the time.

Michael Dugan: 14:40

Love it.

Rasha Younan: 14:41

And I think what I really after is balance in flavor. So I don't like to something to be overly sweet or overly bitter. So that's what I'm aiming for. So when, whenever I create a new creation or a new bonbon, I'm always looking how to balance the flavors out. Not to be too sweet or not to be too salty, not to be too bitter. Just balance. I think this is it.. The balance is very important for me.

Michael Dugan: 15:11

And who are your customers? Where do they come from?

Rasha Younan: 15:13

So before, right now I have a location in Bothell, downtown. We just opened recently, but before that, since I started my business, I've been doing like artisan markets and crafter markets. So I would meet people and they can try my chocolate or buy it. And it's a very, I love those crafter markets because it's the connection with people. I'm there. And the people are there and asking questions and I'm interacting with them and telling them about my chocolate. This is where my base customers came from, just crafter markets, artesian markets. And I think it's becoming, getting like word of mouth right now. So people are telling, we're sharing the chocolate. Cause a lot of people, or all of my customers just buy the chocolate for someone else to give as gift, which is. I love that. Also I have an Instagram and Facebook page. So I think that is where I connect with my clients.

Michael Dugan: 16:15

That's wonderful. Your chocolates are amazing. I was going to say it only lasted two days, the whole box, two days. We just kept eating them and my wife said, do you want another one?, they were really good. We devoured them.

Rasha Younan: 16:25

Oh, thank you.

Michael Dugan: 16:27

The flavors are just so unique

Rasha Younan: 16:29

and

Michael Dugan: 16:30

it's like you handpicked those flavors. 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. I love Carmel, but the hazelnut was good too. Anyway, so as we go on, can you share any memorable experience or story related to your journey as a chocolatier?

Rasha Younan: 16:54

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. And one of the homework exercises was. 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. So I remember just preparing for that. event or that party and inviting my friends over. 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. And I invited a couple of my friends and what really touched me is how my friends took the time to come and help me and support me on my homework, even if they weren't very interested in the chocolate or didn't know what to expect on that exercise. So I really appreciate that. And they came. And we had a blast and we were trying chocolate and writing down what did we experience and which one did we like better. And of course it's different for everyone, but just the support of family and friends and believing in me along the way since I started till now I have my friends and my, of course my family, they support me and they believe in me And this is really nice. I'm fortunate to have that. It's

Michael Dugan: 18:43

very important. And do you have any shout outs you want to give? Is there anyone that helped you along in the business or anyone that helped you along on the culinary side? Anyone you can think of that you want to just say thank you for what you did?

Rasha Younan: 18:56

So far, everyone I met, either they have a small business or have a Chocolate business, they have been so helpful to me, giving me tips or helping me or supporting me in my journey..

Michael Dugan: 19:09

Okay. Is there any advice you could give to somebody that's aspiring to do what you do and become a chocolatier, maybe open a shop or go into pastry or just has a real passion for it like you do?

Rasha Younan: 19:20

there's a few things. that people can start with. First of all, know your chocolate, know the chocolate well. Chocolate is a very delicate and very special product and it needs to be handled with knowledge and care. So just know the chocolate and also experiment with it and play with it. And the more you play with it, you will know it more. I always recommend professional learning if someone is interested to do something like that, even not necessarily professionally, but professional learning is really key to make you understand the product you have in hand and what you can do with it. And also continue to learn because it's not something that you can do once and be done with it. It's a journey. And I always tell myself, I need to learn more about this and continue to learn and add to my knowledge and practice. Is key for progress and success and also try other chocolates, try different chocolates from different location, different areas, different chocolatiers, different chocolate makers, trying different chocolate really opens the awareness of what's out there and what you can do to, what you can do to not necessarily do it better. Sometimes you do it better, but also you do it your way and experience, express yourself through your products. So trying other chocolates is key. I eat a lot of chocolate, not only my chocolate, but other chocolates as well. So I buy a lot from different chocolate makers, different chocolatiers. Whenever I travel to a city inside the U S or outside, like out of country, I always do a chocolate tour.

Michael Dugan: 21:14

I love it. That's awesome.

Rasha Younan: 21:16

It's one of my best experiences is to try the chocolate overseas and try the chocolate in different cities. So I just, Try to pick two or three chocolate stores in the area where I'm staying and just go and Visit and try some of their chocolates and buy some of their chocolates. That's really it's really fun experience And it's really keep me aware of what's out there. And also . It's really important that I try other chocolates as well. So I think this is a good tip for someone who's interested in chocolate. And last is believe in yourself and what you can offer. Everyone is unique and everyone brings something unique to the table. So just believe you can do it if you want to start your own business and just do it.

Michael Dugan: 22:05

That's great advice for those that are listening. Just do it. Just go out and do it and learn. and study and take some classes. I went to cooking school for two years, probably the best thing I ever did to learn about being a chef. I never made it as a chef, so I became a podcaster because I work in technology. But for me, the best thing I did was the education. The amazing thing about cooking school is that you can open up a recipe book from anywhere. Any culture can cook because you have the foundation. So what I think is really important, what you're saying is gain the foundation if you want to go into chocolate making.

Rasha Younan: 22:44

Exactly. And also if you can find a mentor

Michael Dugan: 22:47

to help you

Rasha Younan: 22:48

and guide you, that's also a good tip.

Michael Dugan: 22:50

Okay.. Rasha Younan: Like I, I follow Who do you follow?.

Rasha Younan: 22:55

I don't remember the names on top of my head right now.,

Michael Dugan: 22:58

I always cut stuff out. I like people to feel comfortable and to open up. And that's the goal of this show is to help you feel relaxed so that you can share your stories.

Rasha Younan: 23:09

Yes.

Michael Dugan: 23:10

So looking ahead, What are your goals and aspirations for the future of being a chocolatier and in your shop?

Rasha Younan: 23:18

So my goal is to create more chocolates. That's good. More flavors, more products in my shop to add more products in my shop. And also to key to stay with all natural ingredients, no preservatives. So this is a key factor for me is the quality of the ingredients and I'm using right now I have a small shop in downtown Bothell, but I hope that I can grow into a bigger shop with my own kitchen in the same space. That way we can create more volume of chocolates for people, I start. I started doing this or doing my business because I wanted to share the joy of chocolate with people. And I have one of my friends and she's a great supporter to me. She wrote me a thank you letter or a thank you note. It was like, she said, your chocolate gives joy to people. And I thank you for that. Making them because it helps me say thank you or spread the joy to other people as well. That's my goal to continue doing that. And also something I want to do is to be Like mindful more about sustainability and make my packaging all just no plastic. This is something I'm looking into, but still. I wasn't able to do that right now, but I hope in the near future that I can just be a 100 sustainable, no plastic in my packages and solve that.

Michael Dugan: 24:50

Wow. And as we wrap up, is there any special place in the world where you've been that connects food and culture or chocolate and culture?

Rasha Younan: 25:00

So the best chocolates I tried was in Switzerland. Of course, Switzerland are known with their amazing chocolates. And I actually used my milk and my milk chocolate and my white chocolate are Swiss chocolate. So I love the Swiss chocolate. And also I want to say France, Paris is very charming food and confections and pastries and chocolates. Of course, the best chocolates, bonbons are in France that I've tried.

Michael Dugan: 25:33

Okay.

Rasha Younan: 25:35

And the culture of French is really overpowering, and I love it.

Michael Dugan: 25:41

We vacationed in Southern France in Beziers, which was this really cool small town, and it was near Carcassonne, and Carcassonne is a castle town.

Rasha Younan: 25:52

Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 25:52

This huge castle and there was a chocolatier there and I have a picture somewhere from years ago of this pastry or chocolate chef, right? And he came out and he took a picture with me and I was so inspired by that photo. I'll send it to you if I can find it. It was just, he's really young and he just created these amazing chocolate sculptures and that really connected to me. He was just really genuine. And I think back when I was. Really in the travel mode and my wife and I were traveling for the first time and that whole experience was incredible and the food Was just amazing but the chocolate. It's to die for so now that I'm choked up. How do we find you? I know you're on Facebook and Instagram, but how directly can we get People to connect with you.

Rasha Younan: 26:37

So they can connect with me either through Facebook or Instagram or my email address. It's Chocolat. Seattle @gmail. com. And I have a small location, a small pop shop on main street in Bothell downtown. So that's. That's another way to come and try our chocolates , and experience some of what we talked about today.

Michael Dugan: 27:03

Okay.

Rasha Younan: 27:03

We're open Thursday through Sunday, this location noon to 6 PM. If you want specific flavors. Just send me an email beforehand and I can prepare a specific box for specific flavors. Otherwise, we have boxes of assortment of chocolates in the store available. We have some other items as well beside bonbons, and we're looking to add more as we grow.

Michael Dugan: 27:29

Wonderful. Any final message that you want to share with our listeners around the world?

Rasha Younan: 27:34

I hope I'm inspiring everyone today, and I hope you liked our talk today. I just want to say, just believe in yourself and connect with people is really important and chocolate. In my opinion, it can be your messenger. If you don't know what to say, you can just give chocolate to someone or a chocolate box or a, it's a, it goes a long way of saying your or I love you, or I think about you, or I care about you. So it can be your messenger. If you don't know what to say, just give chocolate, give joy to others by sharing chocolate that you like.

Michael Dugan: 28:18

Wow. That's beautiful. You've created so many memories for so many people and a memory today. So I just want to thank you for being on Voice4Chefs.

Rasha Younan: 28:28

And thank you so much.