Everything about Manjar totally explained
Dulce de leche in
Spanish or
doce de leite in
Portuguese ("milk candy"), is a milk-based syrup. Found as both a sauce and a caramel-like candy, it's popular across
Latin America. It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product similar in taste to
caramel.
It's specially popular in
Argentina and
Uruguay, and also consumed in
Paraguay and
Brazil. The name literally means “sweet of milk” or “milk candy” in
Spanish. The French preparation
confiture de lait is very similar to the spreadable forms of
dulce de leche. There are also other varieties of it: in
Mexico, the
cajeta, the
manjarblanco in
Peru, or the simply
manjar in
Chile, and the
arequipe in
Guatemala,
Colombia and
Venezuela.
Origins
There are many stories about the origin. One story involves the
19th century Argentinian caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. The story goes that in a winter afternoon at the Rosas house, the maid was making some
lechada—a drink made with milk and sugar boiled until it starts to caramelize—and she heard someone knocking at the door. She left the
lechada on the stove and went to answer the door; and when she came back, the
lechada was burnt and had turned into a brown jam:
dulce de leche.
It may also have its origins in Europe, possibly as the French
confiture de lait: a popular similar legend dating back from the
14th century exists in the region of
Normandy, involving a cook from the military troops who had the same culinary accident when making sweetened milk for breakfast. Variations of this legend refer to a cook in
Napoleon's army.
The most popular dulce de leche brands in
Argentina are
Chimbote,
La Serenísima and
Sancor. The most popular dulce de leche brands in
Uruguay are
Conaprole and
Lapataia, which is made in
Punta del Este.
Preparation and uses
Its most basic recipe calls for slowly boiling
milk and
sugar, although other ingredients may be included to achieve special properties.
Dulce de leche may also be prepared by cooking sweetened condensed milk for several hours. Although the transformation that occurs in preparation is often called
caramelization, it's actually a form of the
Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction that's responsible for many of the flavors of cooked food. Dulce de leche is usually one sixth the size of its original volume.
Dulce de leche is used to flavor candies or other sweet foods, such as
cakes,
cookies (see
alfajor) or
ice cream, as well as
flan. It is also popular spread on
toast.
Confiture de lait is commonly served with
fromage blanc.
A solid candy made out of Dulce de Leche, similar to the
Polish Krówki, was also very popular, named
Vaquita ("little cow") was manufactured by the
Mu-Mu factory in Argentina. After the factory went out of business in 1984 (as a consequence of financial speculation by its owners), other brands began to manufacture similar candies giving them names such as
Vauquita and
Vaquerita in an effort to link their products to the original.
In early April 2007,
Starbucks began offering Dulce de Leche flavored lattes and Frappuccinos.
Variations
The Mexican
cajeta is named after the small
wooden boxes it was traditionally packed in. Developed as a specialty of the town
Celaya in the state of
Guanajuato, this Mexican version of
dulce de leche is made of half
goat's milk and half
cow's milk.
The
Dominican style of
Dulce de Leche is more of a fudge than a runny sweet. Usually made by mixing equal parts of whole milk and brown sugar, simmering over medium heat. Cooked until it has the consistency of thick yogurt. Then is place in a mold for shape and let it set for 2-4 hours depending how big the mold is. The rest is easy just simply take out of the mold, slice and serve . Of course, this is the most simple way of making it. It can also be filled with
jelly and
jam,
marmalade. It can also be
flavored with vanilla and/or caramel, etc. This is a very popular dish for
Cinco De Mayo in many hispanic countries.
There are also other Brazilian, Chilean, El Salvador, Paraguayan, Venezuelan and Colombian varieties of it, which are solid and can be cut into bars. The Venezuelan variety is made in the city of
Coro, in the Northwest of the country, and is sold as either pure
dulce de leche or made with chocolate swirled in
(dulce de leche con chocolate).
Cortada
This version of
dulce de leche is most common in Cuban cuisine, and is often eaten alone as a dessert.
Cortada, meaning cut or choppy, refers to the somewhat lumpy style and texture of the dessert. However, when ordering the dessert at a Cuban establishment one only needs to ask for a
dulce de leche because it's given that it's "cortado."
Manjar Blanco
There is a partially similar confection known as
Manjar blanco (“white delicacy”) in
Peru and
Chile, but the preparation of this delicacy normally avoids fully completing the
Maillard reaction of the sugars and so has a different flavor and appearance.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Manjar'.
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