The Caribbean chocolate comes from a drum that never stops spinning unless it needs maintenance.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- One of the regulars at Ranger Chocolate in Northeast Portland is also one of the company's newest collaborators, Gregory Gourdet.
Gourdet, the chef and founder of Sousol Bar and Kann (the James Bears Award winning Best New Restaurant of 2023), proudly shares his Haitian roots through his cuisine.
Now he and George Domurot, the head chocolate maker and founder of Ranger Chocolate and of Puerto Rican descent, are merging their personal influences into a tasty new creation.
"I live in the neighborhood and I've been coming here for quite a bit, I walked in one day and I saw the Nord chocolate bar, which they have, which features Haitian cacao, and it was one of the few times I've seen chocolate, especially Haitian chocolate wrapped artisanally, so beautifully," Gourdet said. "So I was automatically intrigued. Of course I had to buy it and taste it and it was delicious. Had to share with my parents and my family. I took it on the road and served it at events and our kind of relationship kind of started from there."
"So with the Caribbean chocolate bar, there's a very close sense of family and friends and community that goes into that bar," Domurot said. "And then with both of us having a connection to the Caribbean with our families, it just grew from there in terms of memories of childhood and ingredients. And then together we just kept bouncing ideas back and forth until we got to where we are today."
Gourdet said he loves the balance and creaminess of the chocolate bar.
"It's not a special occasion bar. I think for me, I wanted to make sure that whoever ate it would eat the whole thing," Gourdet said. "So it's a beautiful bounce of, there's a little fruit and acid from the mango. There's a little bit of heat from the ginger, a little bit of heat from the habanero, of course Jacobson sea salt and then a vanilla, and then just coconut milk, which makes it all very creamy, very delicious and very, very balanced."
And he believes the packaging is beautiful and "expresses the richness of the Caribbean, how lush it is, and where these ingredients might grow."
The Caribbean chocolate comes from a drum that never stops spinning unless it needs maintenance.
"I think it's the thing that gets me excited every day is creating something that's unique," Domurot said. "And working with Gregory has been really exciting because we were able to bounce a lot of ideas off each other and get to a place that is a pretty unique chocolate experience in terms of how it tastes and how it delivers this, the flavor changes to the end."
Gourdet said it's been fun for him to learn about the chocolate making process.
"I think we went back and forth about seven times before the final recipe. The heat was an issue, the sweetness was an issue. All things we figured out. So we have a final resort that we're very, very happy with."
The chocolate bar may not be a special occasion bar -- but it is pricey. Domurot said this is considered a super premium bar that costs $24 for a 2.25-ounce bar, $14 for a 1.25-ounce bar.
Sales from this dairy and gluten free chocolate bar support ethical cacao farming in Haiti.
And this Saturday, Haitian Flag Day, Gourdet will join Domurot at Ranger Chocolate from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
