Join us for a tour of the sweet bread of Mexico, Latin and South America as we take a new pastry each week to discuss and share history, our favorites, and other fun facts! Call store for availability.
A delightful pastry combining sweet bread and the favorite dulce de leche filling used around Mexico and Latin America in desserts, pastries, pancakes, muffins or just plain ol’ eaten by the spoonful.
The word almohada is synonymous to pan dulce itself, being derived from a mixing of cultures. Coincidentally, we follow our Arabic roots from last week, as almohada is Arabic in origin. When the Arabs invaded the Iberian peninsula in 700, they left many words picked up by the Spanish. Almohada comes from the classic Arabic mihaddah, whose root hadd which means ‘cheek’, with the entire word meaning ‘mattress to recline the cheek’.
Then on to the dulce de leche, a gooey sweet made by slowly heating sweetened milk. Many countries in Latin America profess to have invented this treat as well as a European claim that Napoleon’s cook accidentally invented dulce de leche by heating up milk and sugar for too long. In fact, Argentina attempted to declare dulce de leche as Argentinian cultural heritage before UNESCO in 2003! They were unsuccessful.
Don’t put your head to rest on this pastry, but after a cold glass of milk you might just be ready for a siesta or a good night’s sleep!
¡Buen provecho!
