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Dulce de leche is a milk based sauce, and is often mistaken for caramel. It can be found as both a syrup, and a caramel-based candy. The preparation is basically mixing sugar and milk, then heating it and stirring continuously. Other ingredients are added during the cooking process, giving it various qualities or tastes, similiar to the Yerba Mate mixture. Since the milk is continuously exposed to high temperatures, much of the milk evaporates in the cooking process, leaving approximately 1/6 of the original volume (What a waste, ne?). Another way to make this caramel-tasting concotion is heating sweetened milk for several hours. The process that occurs is not actually caramelization, it is actually a form of the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction that is responsible for many of the flavors of cooked food (Wikipedia). This simple food has made it's appearance in many different areas, even in the U.S.

Dulce de leche is often used to flavor candies, pastries, cookies, and ice cream. Also, it is commonly found in flan. In some areas, it is even used as a spread for toast, a child's favorite. A solid candy was made out of this in Argentina, called Vaquita. Unfortunately, the business went OUT of business in 1984 due to monetary issues. In 1997, Häagen-Dazs made an ice cream flavor called Dulce de Leche, and in the same year, Starbucks began using it as a coffee additive! And, in the early part of this year, the Girl Scouts of the USA introduced //dulce de leche// flavored cookies as part of their annual cookie sales program.

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