Milk sweet: a spread that tastes like home

Doce de leite. Such a Latin American flavor. It is one of the things I missed from home on the occasions I traveled overseas and was away for some time. 

In Spanish-speaking countries, it is called dulce de leche, just like in Portuguese: 'sweet of milk', 'milk sweet', or something of the sort. Since there is apparently no specific term in English, I will keep using doce de leite. 

It is basically a thick, creamy brown spread. It is delicious on a slice of bread, especially if you mix it with milk cream spread (nata), which is also commonly found in small containers on refrigerated supermarket shelves all over the country.

It tastes perfect on a slice of bread

Doce de leite is a great filling, too. It is the heart of the unrivaled South American alfajor, a most traditional confection in Argentina and Uruguay. It is the soul of the Brazilian churros, a deep-fried, tube-like dough.

This very sweet brown cream also goes heavenly with cheese; in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, doce de leite served with Minas cheese is a classic. The sweet commonly found there is of a lighter brown color than the one typically made here in Southern Brazil and neighboring countries.

Speaking of Minas Gerais, another specialty of theirs that makes a perfect companion to milk sweet is pão de queijo, or cheese bread. Pão de queijo is an authentic Brazilian dainty on its own, by the way, popularly accompanied by a cup of coffee in city cafes, bus stations, roadside gas stations and diners, and airports throughout the country.

In the pictures below, the doce de leite, Minas cheese and cheese bread were all made in the state of Rio Grande do Sul:

Minas Cheese and Milk Sweet: what a couple!

Pão de queijo and doce de leite, another scrumptious duo.

Oh, how I miss those good old days when I was a child in the 90's and it was still possible to find doce de leite and nata in bulk in supermarkets' display counters to be sold by weight. You could ask for a certain quantity and the attendant behind the counter would start collecting spoons of the desired substance, gradually filling a plastic container that stood on a scale until the approximate requested amount was reached. It seems to me that these foods tasted better that way. They don't sell them like that anymore due to sanitary regulations. 

The recipe for this brown manjar is quite simple; the making of it, not so much. The sweet is obtained by slowly heating milk with sugar. One has to be careful not to let it burn, stirring and stirring. According to my mother-in-law's account, who had the experience of preparing it at home in the past, the process takes hours and the resulting volume of sweet is a great deal smaller than the initial volume of milk. 

In Brazil, you can usually find jars containing doce de leite in supermarkets. The best brands are usually from Uruguay. When my wife and I traveled there last year, a little more than a month before the pandemic, we were surprised by the variety of products made with, or flavored like, doce de leite, including ice creams, yogurts and carton drinks.

You can also find it in small plastic bags here in Brazil. This is popular with kids, who bite these bags open and slurp its scrummy content. My wife got one in a food basket she was gifted by a group of students last year, which reminded her of childhood.

Do you feel like biting this bag open?

In South America, I can assure you that doce de leite is a superior sweet and a flavor to try, and one to never forget.