A Culinary Tradition The Geography of Dulce de Leche A traditional

Dulce de Leche
“sweet of milk”
A traditional Latin American sweet
made from milk and sugar
Mexico
Dulce de leche (also
called jamoncillo) is
solid. Also produced as
cajeta, from goat or cow
milk, is liquid and sometimes packaged in small
wooden boxes (cajitas).
Cuba
Guatamala
Dulce de leche is produced in the
island mountain region Camagüey.
The consistency of
dulce de leche is hard.
Honduras Dulce de leche is in hard or semi-hard bars.
El Salvador
Dulce de leche is semi-hard,
and leche de burra, or
donkey’s milk, is a toffee.
Venezuela
Costa Known as cajeta
Rica and is light beige.
Nicaragua
A thick and soft paste, light beige in
color, which comes in long squares or
round bars made by hand or molded.
Cajeta, a semi-hard paste, is kneaded
like corn dough for tortillas.
Panama
A Culinary Tradition
Dulce de leche, manjar blanco,
cajeta,... these sweets bearing several
different names and characteristics are
widespread in Latin America and are
made from condensing milk and sugar
until caramelized.
Arequipe is liquid, manjar
blanco is thicker and
served in a calabash.
Ecuador
Brazil
Known as doce de leite,
Portuguese for dulce de
leche, it is either liquid or
solid. It is made in the state
of Minas Gerais but is sold
in most of the country in
supermarkets, small stands
and restaurants, in pots and
big or small candy bars.
Known as
manjor blanco.
Peru
Both manjar blanco
and natillas piuranas
(a specialty of Piura)
are liquid.
Originally home-produced in temperate
cattle raising areas (mid-altitude tropical mountains and pampas) colonized
in the 16th to 18th centuries, dulces de
leche have been commercialized in
towns of the same regions since the
end of the 19th century.
The basic recipe is the same, but the
proportion between milk and sugar, the
cooking time and the added flavors vary
in each region, giving a particular taste,
color, and texture. Even when bearing
the same name, the sweet is different
from one country to another.
Colombia
Called manjar blanco or
bien-me-sabe, sometimes
served on banana leaves.
Bolivia
Also called
manjar blanco.
Paraguay
The Geography of
Dulce de leche
produced as a liquid.
Dulce de Leche
Uruguay
Uruguay disputes the gastronomic
heritage of dulce de leche with
Argentina.
Map by Erica Simek and Esther Katz
So diverse are these treats, many
consider them local specialties. By
creating uniform products, large food
companies cannot compete with
handicraft products in the market.
Chile
Argentina
Fruit and nuts may be added
to milk sweets. In Chile,
manjar may be flavored by
the local lucuma fruit.
Dulce de leche, served as a liquid
paste, similar to condensed
milk, is widely consumed. It was
officially declared as national
heritage. Many Argentinians think
it was invented here.
Data Sources: Shaded Relief (Ellen Kuzdro,
Tom Patterson), Countries (ESRI), Text (Esther Katz)
A Short History
The Arabs bring sugar cane and
sugar processing techniques to
Spain, borrowed from India.
Sugar cane and milk-producing
livestock come to Latin America by
Spanish and Portuguese colonizers.
Colonizers occupy lands
with low native populations
and set up cattle ranches.
Recipes for milk sweets
appear in the first Latin
American recipe books.
Trade increases in
towns, near roads or
railroad stations.
8th Century
16th
17th - 18th
19th
20th
Argentina and Uruguay claim
dulce de leche as gastronomical
heritage.
21st