Tembleque is a coconut
dessert
Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...
pudding from
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
similar to
blancmange
Blancmange (, from , ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream, and sugar, thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Chondrus crispus, Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured wit ...
and related to Spanish
manjar blanco and Filipino
maja blanca. It is one of the most popular desserts in Puerto Rican cuisine.
Ingredients
is made by cooking coconut cream, coconut milk, heavy cream (optional), salt, cornstarch, sugar, and garnished with ground cinnamon.
Tembleque can also be topped with a fruit
relish
A relish (a pickle-based condiment) is a cooking, cooked and pickling, pickled culinary dish made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs, typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a p ...
or syrup usually made with sugar, liqueur, spices, fruit or simply chocolate shavings on top.
Other flavors excited such as added chocolate, cream cheese, ginger,
orange blossom water, or adding other spices.
Cultural importance
It is a holiday dish, served on New Year's Day throughout the island of Puerto Rico.
While the recipe may have originated in Puerto Rico,
there are variants on the dish
manjar blanco in
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
,
manjar branco in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and
maja blanca in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. 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 bring them back and remind them of who they are, of their island, and of their grandmother.
Tembleque
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
Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...
-like gel texture, trembles, shivers, and shakes
if it has been prepared correctly.
In popular culture
* "Tembleque", a reggaeton song by , describes the movement of the dessert, and the dance move.
See also
*
Coconut bar
*
Khanom thuai
*
Bebinca
*
Haupia
References
Puerto Rican cuisine
Puddings
Foods containing coconut
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