🍯 Cajeta
Also known as: cajeta de Celaya, goat milk caramel
The Mexican goat's milk version of dulce de leche; the cajeta of Celaya is well known.
Cajeta is the Mexican version of dulce de leche, traditionally made from goat’s milk (sometimes mixed with cow’s milk). The milk is slowly cooked down with sugar, often with a pinch of baking soda and cinnamon or vanilla, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and turns amber-brown. Goat’s milk gives cajeta a slightly tangy, more complex flavour than cow’s milk dulce de leche.
The best known is cajeta from the city of Celaya in the state of Guanajuato (“cajeta de Celaya”). According to a common explanation, the name comes from the small wooden boxes (cajetas) the sweet used to be sold in. There are varieties: “quemada” (cooked down further, “burnt”), vanilla, and “envinada”, with added alcohol.
Cajeta differs from Argentine or Brazilian dulce de leche mainly in the milk and the flavour; technologically it is the same cooked-down milk caramel. It is poured over crêpes (crepas con cajeta), ice cream and fruit, added to baking and eaten by the spoonful as a sweet on its own.
How it connects to milk
🍯 Cajeta → made from → 🥛 Goat's milk → type of → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Made from
- 🥛 Goat's milk
- How it is made
- 🔄 Condensing
- Where it is traditional
- 🌍 Latin America
- Which peoples make it
- 🧑🤝🧑 Mexicans
- Product type
- 🏺 Traditional dairy products
- Part of
- 🥫 Preserved milk products
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cajeta and dulce de leche?
Cajeta is made mostly from goat’s milk, so it has a tangier taste. Dulce de leche is more often made from cow’s milk.
Where does cajeta come from?
From Mexico; the best known is cajeta from the city of Celaya in the state of Guanajuato.
Similar
🍯 Dulce de leche · 🧀 Queso fresco · 🍬 Khoa · 🧶 Oaxaca cheese · 🏯 So (dairy product) · 🥫 Condensed milk
ℹ️ Dairy products contain lactose and milk proteins: if you are lactose intolerant or allergic to milk protein, ask a doctor.