Tembleque is a coconut dessert pudding from Puerto Rico[1] similar to blancmange and related to Latin American manjar blancos and Filipino maja blanca. It is one of the most popular desserts in Puerto Rican cuisine.[2]
 | |
| Type | Pudding |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | Puerto Rico |
| Region or state | Puerto Rico |
| Main ingredients | Coconut milk, heavy cream, cornstarch, sugar, and cinnamon |
Tembleque is made by cooking coconut cream, coconut milk, heavy cream (optional), salt, cornstarch, sugar, frequently orange blossom water, and garnished with ground cinnamon.
Tembleque can also be topped with a relish or syrup usually made with sugar, liqueur, spices, fruit juice or diced, and wine or simply chocolate shavings on top.[3][4][5]
It is a holiday dish, served on New Year's Day throughout the island of Puerto Rico.[6] While the recipe may have originated in Puerto Rico,[7] there are variants on the dish manjar blancoinLatin America, manjar brancoinBrazil, and maja blanca in the Philippines. According to the Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico, published by the Foundation for the Humanities, each time a Puerto Rican migrant to the United States comes closer and closer to forgetting their roots, foods like tembleque bring them back and remind them of who they are, of their island, and of their grandmother.[8]
In Spanish, the word tembleque is an adjective used to describe something that shakes, or a noun to describe the shakes themselves. The dessert, due to its Jell-O-like gel texture, trembles, shivers, and shakes[9] if it has been prepared correctly.[10]
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