Sirene – Pataxte Bar, Oaxaca, Mexico, Dark 65%

About the bar

Its pale colour makes this bar look like white chocolate, but it’s in fact a dark; the colour is a result of being made from the very different pataxte beans. The bar is luxuriously creamy, accented with an interesting crunch. It has a fruity, tannic quality, with a sourness reminiscent of soursop.

About the maker

Sirene is a Canadian small-batch craft chocolate maker, crafting its chocolate in Victoria, British Columbia. Taylor Kennedy founded Sirene in 2013 after 18 years at the National Geographic Society, having become obsessed with the particular and painstaking process required to make great chocolate. Sirene looks at many factors when considering a new cocoa farmer, and considers its relationship with suppliers as one of equals, working together to deliver the best chocolate possible.

The beans

The beans in this bar aren’t even cocoa! Theobroma bicolor, also known as ‘pataxte’ or ‘mocambo’, is the close cousin of Theobroma cacao; and although there might be a family resemblance, it’s a whole new chocolate flavour experience. The pataxte beans in this bar were grown in the village of San Felipe de León, in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. The beans are naturally lower in fat, and so are harder to work with; requiring the addition of cocoa butter in order to craft chocolate.

Allergens*

No allergens listed by maker.

Ingredients

Pataxte beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter

*Allergen advice: We directly import, and purchase, all products from independent makers and have these shipped by our partner warehouse (which is not certified allergen-free), and so we cannot guarantee that any product will be allergen-free. Even where an allergen is not listed, products may have been produced, shipped, or stored in facilities which handle allergens.

If you would like further information about a specific product, please contact us on [email protected] or contact the maker directly.