17th - 18th 19th 20th

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.

Originally home-produced in temperate cattle raising areas (mid-altitude tropi-cal 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.

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.

ArgentinaFruit and nuts may be added to milk sweets. In Chile,

manjar may be flavored by the local lucuma fruit.

Chile

Venezuela

BrazilEcuador

Both manjar blanco and natillas piuranas (a specialty of Piura)

are liquid.

Peru

Mexico

Nicaragua

El SalvadorA thick and soft paste, light beige in color, which comes in long squares or round bars made by hand or molded.

Colombia

CostaRica

Honduras

Panama

CubaDulce de leche is produced in the island mountain region Camagüey.

Also called manjar blanco.

Bolivia

Paraguay

Uruguay

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.

Dulce de leche (also called jamoncillo) is

solid. Also produced as cajeta, from goat or cow milk, is liquid and some-times packaged in small wooden boxes (cajitas).

A Culinary Tradition

16th

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.

Dulce de leche is semi-hard, and leche de burra, or

donkey’s milk, is a toffee.

21st

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.

Dulce de leche is in hard or semi-hard bars.

Called manjar blanco or bien-me-sabe, sometimes served on banana leaves.

Uruguay disputes the gastronomic heritage of dulce de leche with Argentina.

Dulce de leche produced as a liquid.

Known as cajeta and is light beige.

Cajeta, a semi-hard paste, is kneaded like corn dough for tortillas.

The consistency of dulce de leche is hard.

Known as manjor blanco.

Guatamala

The Geography of Dulce de Leche

A Short History Recipes for milk sweets appear in the first LatinAmerican recipe books.

Argentina and Uruguay claim dulce de leche as gastronomical heritage.

Trade increases in towns, near roads or railroad stations.

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.

8th Century

The Arabs bring sugar cane and sugar processing techniques to Spain, borrowed from India.

Arequipe is liquid, manjar blanco is thicker and served in a calabash.

A traditional Latin American sweet made from milk and sugarDulce de Leche“sweet of milk”

Map by Erica Simek and Esther Katz

Data Sources: Shaded Relief (Ellen Kuzdro, Tom Patterson), Countries (ESRI), Text (Esther Katz)