Ibarra (chocolate) facts for kids
Ibarra is a popular brand of Mexican chocolate. It's known as "table chocolate" because it's usually melted to make a delicious drink, not eaten as a candy bar. This special chocolate has been made since 1925. Since 1954, a company called Chocolatera de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, has produced it.
While the company makes other chocolate items, Ibarra table chocolate is its most famous product. You can find it all over Mexico and in many other countries. It's especially popular in the Americas and parts of Europe.
What Makes Ibarra Chocolate Special?
Ibarra chocolate comes in a unique red and yellow hexagon-shaped box. Each piece of chocolate is round, about half an inch thick, and about 3 and a quarter inches wide. It's molded into 8 easy-to-break wedges. You can even see the letters "IBARRA" molded right into the chocolate!
The main ingredients are cocoa paste, sugar, cinnamon, and soy lecithin. There's also a special version that doesn't have extra vegetable fat. This means it only contains the natural fats from the cocoa bean, making it a very high-quality chocolate.
How to Enjoy Ibarra Chocolate
Unlike regular chocolate bars, Ibarra table chocolate has a rough, gritty texture. This is because it contains tiny bits of undissolved sugar. While you can eat an Ibarra tablet as is, it's mostly made for preparing traditional Mexican hot cocoa.
The packaging suggests a simple way to make it:
- Use about two wedges of Ibarra chocolate for each cup of milk or water.
- Heat the milk or water until it's almost boiling.
- Carefully blend the hot liquid and chocolate in a blender until the chocolate completely dissolves.
- Serve it hot and enjoy!
You can also make it on the stove. Just dissolve the chocolate wedges in hot milk. Then, whisk the cocoa with a special Mexican whisk called a molinillo or a regular wire whisk. In Mexico, some people even add a pinch of Cayenne pepper to make a spicy chocolate drink, just like the ancient Aztec and Mayan people did!
Ibarra chocolate is also used in some traditional Mexican sauces. One famous example is mole poblano, a rich and flavorful sauce often served with chicken or turkey.
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