Woodblock Chocolat
Many thanks to the great team of Jessica and Charley Wheelock, the wife and husband team behind Woodblock Chocolate. Image Courtesy: woodblockchocolate.com
Along with many others, I need little provocation to eat chocolate. And like pizza, chocolate is always a bit different, depending on where you get it. Well, I’m happy to report on a new chocolate shop in the NE PDX area that is, well, so darn sweet. So, let me introduce Woodblock Chocolate. Craft chocolate simply doesn’t get better. Heck, even the name suggests a nice hunk of sweet happiness. Just throw that big slab of chocolate onto the wood block and cut me off a huge piece! O.K. I’m getting ahead of myself, but their name is nearly as good as the products they produce. Just take a look:
The Art of Craft Chocolate
In most cases, a business knows itself better than its customer. With that in mind, here’s a brief description of Woodblock Chocolate by the owners themselves:
Portland’s own Woodblock Chocolate is the fortunate result of years of rigorous artistic endeavors by wife and husband team Jessica and Charley Wheelock. We met doing antique restoration and both had an affinity for the intriguing potential of a raw material: wood (that’s where the Woodblock comes from). Single source chocolate was intriguing too. The more we learned about chocolate, the more we understood how everything we had done led to this. Was it a calling? For us, making chocolate from the bean was more like realizing a dream that we didn’t even know we had!
Since 2010 when Woodblock Chocolate began, we’ve gone from making chocolate in our Portland kitchen, to our first small manufactory in SE, to our splendiferous and comfy Manufactory/Café in the heart of Portland’s historically beautiful Irvington-Broadway district. We are grateful for the encouragement and acceptance: without Portland’s love for creative expression, food, design and entrepreneurism we wouldn't be where we are.
We like to think every part of our humble and joyful experience comes through in our chocolate. We visited farms from Hawaii to Peru, researched and roasted, delved into the history and philosophy of cacao, made mistakes and happy accidents, grew, developed, collaborated and now have what we believe is delicious heartfelt chocolate worthy of our journey, made from two ingredients: cacao and pure cane sugar. We are genuinely proud to share what we have learned with you. - woodblockchocolate.com
Interesting Woodblock Chocolate Links
From the process of making chocolate, which is all done on-site at Woodblock. In fact, Woodblock Chocolate has quite the notoriety around PDX. Buzz giants Stumptown Coffee and Salt and Straw both utilize Woodblock Chocolate in some of their products. Check out the below links to learn more about Woodblock and their associated partners:
The process of making chocolate at Woodblock
Who Uses Woodblock Chocolate Products?
The Cafe at Woodblock Chocolate