One of the most intriguing things about dulce de leche, the Argentine milk caramel confectionary – aside from its mesmerisingly gooey consistency and goes-well-on-anything taste – is that it’s commercial import is prohibited in Australia.
What did one of Argentina’s most famous exports ever do to us, we hear you ask? Being traditionally made with cow’s milk in Argentina, a country suffering a spate of foot and mouth disease outbreaks, the federal government banned the import of all things dairy as a precaution (although you are permitted to import less than 1 kilogram of the sweet for personal consumption).
Sad news for those with a bit of a sweet tooth – that is, until Messina got on the case.
True dulce de leche is made with good-quality milk, a little sugar, then slowly simmered. Source: Flickr
“The ban hasn’t been reversed, which is why we took it upon ourselves to go to Argentina and learn how to make dulce de leche properly,” Messina founder, Nick Palumbo, tells SBS.
They even hired a true Argentinian dulce maker to fly to Australia with them to ensure a perfect recipe.
No stranger to going the extra mile (the celebrated ice-cream house is famous for flavours like Elvis The Fat Years, with peanut-butter gelato, fried brioche and banana jam), Messina has taken it upon themselves to start making their own dulce de leche.
The team purchased the right equipment to take back to Australia with them, and even hired a true Argentinian dulce maker to fly to Australia with them to ensure a perfect recipe.
Translating literally to ‘sweetness of milk’, or ‘milk jam’, it is surprisingly simple to make, but it has to be done right – no imitations or cheap knock-offs allowed.
“It’s popularity and variety of uses has resulted in adulterated and poorly replicated versions found all over the world,” Palumbo says.
Where the magic happens: purpose-built dulce de leche-making machine was imported from Argentina. Source: Messina
Don’t even think about taking Palumbo your caramel, or your boiled can of condensed milk, and trying to pass either of them off as dulce de leche.
"A true dulce de leche is simple – it’s made with good-quality milk, a little sugar, then slowly simmered until all moisture content is extracted from the milk,” Palumbo says.
Don’t even think about taking Palumbo your caramel, or your boiled can of condensed milk, and trying to pass either of them off.
The browning is caused by the ‘maillard’ reaction, which is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars, rather than sugars actually caramelising, he explains, and the sweetness comes from the milk being reduced to the point where the lactose ends up forming a greater ‘concentrated’ percentage of the finished product.
Simple as it may be to make, the life and times of this spread are anything but. Latin American countries like Argentina and Uruguay have long been feuding over its origin - some date its discovery back to the early 19th century, and then there is Mexico's version, called cajeta, which is traditionally made with goat's milk or a mix of goat's and cow's milk.
Messina's "Number Two": peanut butter gelato with chocolate brownie and dulce de leche jam. Source: Messina
Over in Europe, the story changes again: it is said that in 1804, Napoleon’s trusted chef accidentally created dulce de leche by leaving milk and sugar on heat for too long.
One thing everyone can agree on, however: world Dulce De Leche Day takes place on October 11, and few will be celebrating harder than Messina.
“We’re now confident we’ve landed on an amazing flavour,” Palumbo says. “We’ve reintroduced it, and we’re using the dulce de leche for lots of other things too - the ‘caramel’ in our yoghurt caramel, and in all our baked goods.”
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Dulce de leche brownies
