Cookbook:Dulce de Leche

Dulce de leche, also known as milk jam, is a confection made with milk and sugar.

Production
Strictly speaking, dulce de leche requires only milk and sugar to be cooked together until thick and browned. This can be achieved from scratch by simmering sugar and milk together until thickened and brown. However, sweetened condensed milk can be baked or boiled as well in order to save time. Adding a little baking soda will help make the final product darker.

Technically, dulce de leche is not a caramel—rather than from caramelization of sugar, it gets its similar color and flavor from the Maillard reaction between the sugar and the protein in the milk.

Characteristics
Dulce de leche ranges from tan to brown, depending on how long it is cooked and whether an alkaline substance is added during cooking. It is thick, sweet, and sticky, with the rich flavor of cooked milk. Sometimes it has a slight grittiness to it as a byproduct of cooking, but it is overall smooth.

If made from goat milk, as it often is in Mexico, dulce de leche is called "cajeta".

Selection and storage
Canned dulce de leche will keep, unopened, at room temperature. Opened or fresh dulce de leche should be stored in the fridge, though its high sugar concentration will allow it to stay good for around a month.

Use
Dulce de leche is widespread in Latin America and growing in popularity in the United States. It is often used as a spread or filling, as in the sandwich cookies called alfajores, or a flavoring, as in ice creams and custards. When cooked even longer, dulce de leche can be turned into a fudgy confection.