Dulce de leche
Confection
Top 10 pairings
Dulce de leche ("sweet of milk") is a thick, glossy, spreadable confection made by slowly heating sweetened milk until the sugars and milk proteins brown into a smooth caramel-coloured paste. A staple across Latin America — and known as confiture de lait in France, doce de leite in Brazil and cajeta when made with goat's milk in Mexico — it tastes of toffee, caramel and cooked milk.
Picking a good onedrag
Glossy, smooth, smelling of toffeeMouldy, sour, fizzing
Open, a few weeks inEveryday bestSwirl it into coffee, fold it through buttercream, or fill churros, crepes and cakes. An opened jar lives cold and takes a clean spoon.
Tilt the jar to the lightDarker, deeper-cooked russet - the long-reduced style
Drag a spoon through itDense and firm, holding its shape - the sliceable block cook
Smell it off a clean spoonTangy and faintly gamey behind the caramel - goat's-milk cajeta
The lid and the labelA home or artisan pot, freshly cooked, covered and going cold