Dulce de Leche
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Thu Oct 30 05:01:12 UTC 2003
 "Dulce de Leche" is not in the OED.  Not once, anywhere.  There are 37,100 Google hits. Â
 I've been aware of the Haagen-Daz product for some time:
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http://www.haagen-dazs.com/segpro.do?productId=73
Dulce De Leche
 ICE CREAM         Â
Inspired by Latin America’s treasured dessert, our Dulce de Leche ice cream is a delicious combination of caramel and sweet cream, swirled with ribbons of golden caramel.  Häagen-Dazs transforms a Latin classic into a sweetly romantic and richly satisfying ice cream.
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 There are 13 trademarks:
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(TRADEMARKS)
Word Mark
THE ORIGINAL DULCE DE LECHE ICE CREAM
Translations
The English translation of "DULCHE DE LECHE" is "SWEET FROM MILK".
Goods and Services
IC Â 030. Â US 046. Â G & S: Ice cream
Mark Drawing Code
(1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number
78160277
Filing Date
September 3, 2002
Current Filing Basis
1B
Original Filing Basis
1B
Owner
(APPLICANT) Coco Gelato, Corp. CORPORATION FLORIDA 163 NE 24 Street Miami FLORIDA 33137
Disclaimer
NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "DULCHE DE LECHE" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN
Type of Mark
TRADEMARK
Register
PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE
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 Today's article in the NEW YORK SUN, 29 October 2003, pg. 17, col. 1, convinces me it has to be entered in the OED:
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_Argentinian Gold: Â Dulce de Leche_
By PAUL LUKAS
 The dinner, at an Argentinian restaurant, had been great, and the dessert was even better: a fondue featuring little biscuits and cookies and a saucepan of the wonderful caramel sauce known as _dulce de leche_.
 "God, I love this stuff," said my friend Sarah, dipping another cookie into the saucepan.  "But what is _dulce de leche_ anyway?"
 "Well, it translates to 'sweet milk,'" I said, feeling all multiculural and factoid-handy.
 "Yeah," she said, "but what _is_ it?  How do they make it?  Like, do they just melt a bunch of Kraft caramels or what?"
 These are good questions, and timely ones too, because _dulce de leche_, once consigned to the ethnic fringe, has acquired much more of a mainstream profile in recent years.  Many coffee bars now offer _dulce de leche_-flavored java, plus there's _dulce de leche_ Haagen-Dazs, and for a while last year the Mars candy folks were even test-marketing _dulce de leche_ M&M's.  Not bad for something that was once found exclusively in SOuth American restaurants,
 Although _dulce de leche_ has a complex, almost nutty flavor, it's remarkably simple stuff: just milk, sugar, and sodium bicarbonate (commonly known as baking soda), which serves as an emulsifier.  It's native to Argentina, where it's essentially the national dessert, poured over ice cream, pastries, fruit, and just about anything else that doesn't move, and also enjoyed straight out of the jar.  Annual per-capita consumption in Argentina is in the 10-pound range (think about that--the mind fairly boggles), a fitgure boosted by the fact that _dulce de leche_ is even fed to Argentinian babies because of its high calcium content.  Got milk, indeed.
 The standard story, perhaps coincidental, is that _dulce de leche_ was invented by accident in 1829, (Col. 2--ed.) when a servant was preparing _techada_ (boiled milk and sugar) for an Argentinian general and mistakenly left the pot unattended over the fire.  The general later found the concoction, which had turned brown, gooey, and delicious, dipped a baguette into it, and _dulce de leche_ was born.  Although the preparation soon spread to other South American countries and to Europe, the Argentinian rendition is reputedly still the best.  Food scientists will tell you this because Argentinian cows graze in the vast prairies known as the pampas, whose grasslands produce high-quality milk rich in conjugated linoleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids; others say Argentinians just know how to make _dulce de leche_, just as New Yorkers know how to make pizza.
(...)
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(JSTOR)
Eunice Joiner Gates
Hispanic Review, Vol. 16, No. 1. (Jan., 1948), pp. 33-49.
Pg. 41: Â Even the favorite gaucho delicacy, the _dulce de alfajor_, composed of two superimposed pastry rounds with a filling of _dulce de leche_, appears as an image for describing the closeness of riders and steers at a round-up:...
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(PROQUEST) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
   Some Argentine Desserts
       Christian Science Monitor  (1908-Current file).    Boston, Mass.: Jan 14, 1930.          p. 10 (1 page) :
   _Dulce de Leche_
 This sweet is made of cream and milk boiled with sugar until it forms a thick paste.  It can be used either as a filling for cakes, biscuits, alfajores, etc., or else eaten instead of jam on bread and butter.  CHildren love it.           Â
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   Food Is Both Plentiful And Cheap in Argentina
   Special to The Christian Science Monitor.    Christian Science Monitor  (1908-Current file).    Boston, Mass.: Aug 28, 1944.          p. 11 (1 page)             Â
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(PROQUEST NEWSPAPERS) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
   Sweet and smooth: Dulce de leche delights
       Houston Chronicle.    Houston, Tex.: May 14, 2003.          p. 4          Â
HYDE PARK, N.Y. - Dulce de leche, translated as "milk jam," is a soft caramel confection that's very popular throughout Mexico, Central and South America.
 It's a relative newcomer to the United States' taste buds, but it is quickly growing in popularity. Swirled into ice creams and yogurt blends, and used as a filling in prepared frozen dessert items, dulce de leche is becoming a fast favorite as a dessert ingredient.
 Traditional dulce de leche is a simple combination of whole milk and sugar, usually flavored with cinnamon, vanilla or lemon - slight variations often according to local tradition.
 The milk and sugar are combined over low heat and cooked slowly. At this temperature, it is the milk solids that caramelize, and which provide the distinct flavor and color.
 The mixture is cooked until it reduces to about one-quarter of its original volume. The result is a sweet, smooth sauce, which is easy to spread when chilled.
 Variations of dulce de leche include products such as cajeta, which is made with goat milk or a combination of goat and cow milk. Stronger in flavor than dulce de leche, cajeta is also popular in Mexico and Argentina.
 Homemade dulce de leche is traditionally used as a filling for cakes, to line pie shells later filled with sweet custard, and as a topping for fresh fruit.
 "Smooth, sweet and creamy, dulce de leche and cajeta are delicacies," says Joseba Encabo, assistant professor in culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America. She adds that you can simply spread the sweet treat on a slice of fresh bread, or put a spoonful in your mouth before your morning coffee, or to savor as a snack.
 The following dulce de leche recipe is made in the traditional manner, beginning with whole milk and sugar. Although the cooking time is about two hours, this dulce de leche virtually cooks itself, requiring only minimal attention.
 The result is well worth the lengthy cooking time. In fact, dulce de leche is so tempting you may find it hard to resist a spoonful straight from the pan.
 This recipe and many other desserts are explained and illustrated in the Culinary Institute of America's forthcoming Baking and Pastry, Mastering the Art and Craft cookbook, scheduled for publication early in 2004.
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   Dulce de Leche Takes A Spot in Vocabulary And Pantries of U.S.
   By Shelly Branch.    Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition).    New York, N.Y.: Oct 12, 2001.          p. B.8           Â
As distracted Americans increasingly reach for comforting, indulgent foods, a popular dessert from Argentina, called dulce de leche, is commanding a place in the U.S.'s pantries and vocabulary.
 Jellies and confections maker J.M. Smucker Co., based in Orrville, Ohio, sells two varieties of dulce de leche caramel toppings. Mars Inc. recently introduced dulce de leche M&M's. Even Groupe Danone's U.S. Dannon unit has whipped up a dulce de leche yogurt as part of its La Creme dessert line.
 The ubiquity of the caramel treat, whose name translates into "sweet of milk," signals a subtle shift in the food industry.
 Over the years, food companies have strained to win over various ethnic groups, particularly consumers of Hispanic origin. Most efforts centered on special ads, as well as ethnic recipes -- for BBQ beef fajitas, for example -- that call for mainstream ingredients, such as Kraft Foods Inc.'s Original Barbecue sauce.
 Rarely, however, do major food companies in the U.S. import ideas from non-English-speaking cultures and commit to marketing them broadly. "Mainstream America tends to be very insular in its food tastes," notes Lynn Dornblazer, editorial director of Mintel's Global New Products Database. One notable exception: salsa, the Mexican staple.
 But, back to dulce de leche. Before 1998, there were virtually no mass-marketed dulce de leche products in the U.S. But in the past three years, according to Mintel's of Chicago, a total of 36 products -- ranging from coffee to toppings, ice creams, yogurts and cosmetics -- have been launched for broad distribution.
 Cosmetics company Coty Inc. rolled out a dulce de leche-inspired scent in 1999, and France's L'Oreal SA followed up in the U.S. with a lip gloss under the dulce de leche name. And Mars's dulce de leche M&M is its first new variety of the candy since 1999.
 Much of the credit for dulce de leche's popularity in the U.S. rests with Haagen-Dazs. Back in 1997, executives at Diageo PLC's Pillsbury unit were preparing to expand their scoop shops to Argentina. A potential franchisee noted that about 30% of that country's ice-cream sales were of the dulce de leche flavor. The ice-cream maker didn't have one.
 "Haagen-Dazs decided it needed a dulce de leche flavor in order to be a credible business in Argentina," says Stephen Moss, vice president of marketing for the brand. Haagen-Dazs ice cream is now sold in the U.S. by Ice Cream Partners USA, a joint venture between Nestle SA and Pillsbury.
 Haagen-Dazs brought dulce de leche to the U.S. in 1998. While most Americans could relate to plain old caramel, marketers feared the term dulce de leche might be lost in translation.
 Eventually, the company decided that the authentic term would signal something new to consumers, who were already familiar with Haagen-Dazs's other caramel flavors.
 "To help out the Anglo market, we put the word caramel underneath dulce de leche on the package," recalls Mr. Moss.
 Although the first pints were available only in heavily Hispanic areas, dulce de leche was soon outselling other Haagen-Dazs products launched nationwide at the same time.
 Today, the caramel-laced ice cream is Haagen-Dazs's sixth-best-selling flavor in the U.S. out of 34 varieties.
 Imitators quickly followed, including dulce de leche ice-cream versions from Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream Co. and Starbucks Corp. Smucker, a major player in spreads and dessert toppings, jumped in with its first dulce de leche spread in 1999 and recently rolled out a dulce ice-cream topping.
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(I'd normally check out dozens of books about Argentina, but I'm a full-time parking ticket judge now--ed.)
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