Dulce de leche is a favorite in most South American countries. It can be eaten as a dessert, as part of a dessert, filling cakes, topping of cakes, like caramel, on toast, on loaves of bread, with crackers, or by the spoonful!
In each country, dulce de leche has a different name and its recipe is slightly different, except in Argentina and Uruguay, where the recipe is the same and has the same name.
In reality it is impossible to determine if it is a Uruguayan dessert, an Argentine dessert or from another country. A few years ago, in 2003, Argentina claimed to the UN that the dulce de leche be proclaimed an Argentine product and Uruguay requested that it be proclaimed a Rio de la Plata product, making it clear that the origin is really unknown.
So here we will try to invent the history of this famous dulce de leche, which is not easy to do!
-A legend goes back to us, since it is said that dulce de leche can be found in very ancient cultures, and it is named in Ayurveda (thousands of years ago), and then it was called Rhabadi Ayurveda, “Science of Life” . “The traditional medicine of India, (5000 years ago) is also one of the most modern methods of alternative medicine today.
-Another of the oldest legends has its origin in Europe, in the fourteenth century, where the people there already enjoyed a dessert called “confiture de lait” in the Normandy region.
-Years later, one of Napoleon’s cooks, who prepared sweetened milk for the troops, accidentally ended up making dulce de leche!
-We have also heard that the origins are called to be Mediterranean, having begun to prepare in Spain, in the 19th century, where it is no longer done now.
-The Chileans affirm that the dulce de leche arrived in their country, when the Liberator San MartÃn crossed the Andes. It was called “Manjar Blanco” and dates back to the 18th century, since then Chileans have been enjoying it.
-Argentinans say that dulce de leche originated in their country, when one of the house maids Juan Manuel de Rosas was preparing sweetened milk for her master, and because she had to attend to Juan Lavalle who came to sign a treaty of peace with Juan Manuel de Rosas, she was distracted and when he returned to continue preparing breakfast, he found this caramel-colored pasta in the pan, and Juan Manuel de Rosas tasted it and found it very good and tasteful.
-The Uruguayans say that dulce de leche was born when slaves who were brought in at the end of the 18th century had a great need for a more nutritious meal and they invented adding sugar to milk and letting it boil long enough. The slaves showed it to their masters and they too began to enjoy it. After that, it began to be produced in large quantities.
In addition, in other South American countries, dulce de leche is also known and enjoyed, although it has different names in each country:
– Mexico, called Cajeta, and is made with goat’s milk
–Colombia, Venezuela and Panama called Arequipe
–Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Peru, Manjar Blanco (sometimes just Manjar)
-Brazil, it’s called doce de leite
– In Cuba it is called dulce de leche “cut” (it is cut, since they cook it differently, and it is not as soft a paste as in other countries)