Dulce de Leche

Fun Facts

1. Dulce de leche is a confection prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a substance that derives its taste from the Maillard reaction, changing flavour and colour.
2. The dulce de leche of El Salvador has a soft, crumbly texture, with an almost crystallized form. Mexico had versions as manjar (vanilla flavoured) or cajeta which is made from goat’s milk.
3. Dulce de leche is also popular in the Philippines, where it is usually paired with cakes or breakfast rolls. As in other places, it has also found its way into other desserts such as cakes and ice cream.
4. A home-made form of dulce de leche is sometimes made by boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for two to three hours (or 30 to 45 minutes in a pressure cooker), particularly by those living in countries where it cannot be bought ready-made. This results in a product that is much sweeter than the slow-boiled kind. It is dangerous to do this on a stove: if the pot is allowed to boil dry, the can will overheat and explode.
5. A solid candy made from dulce de leche, similar to the Polish krówka and named Vaquita (“little cow”), was manufactured by the Mu-Mu factory in Argentina until the company went out of business in 1984.