# Anyone make cajeta?



## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

I just made my first batch of cajeta last night - goat milk caramel.
Anyone else make this? It is unbelievably good. We ate it hot over vanilla ice cream. I'm hooked.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I see it in the store all the time, but I've never tried it.

Post your recipe, please.


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

Ok - I found it on the internet, but none of the "recipes" said what the yield would be or how long it would take. I made a 1/2 of this batch size and it made a little more the a cup and took about two hours! I also left out the cinnamon stick - just didn't have any. Stlill wonderful.

2 qts goats milk
2 c. sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 Tbsp water

Heat first 3 ingredients over med-high until it simmers and sugar is dissolved - remove from heat and add soda mix. It is supposed to foam up? (Mine didn't.) Return to heat and simmer rapidly until it becomes light golden color -- stirring occasionally (this took me an hour - you can let it go, pretty much. I probably stirred too much)- then pay more attention and stir a little more as it browns and thickens.(this took another 45 min/hr.)

I stopped at a consistency like ice cream topping - you can make it thicker by cooking longer. You can test it like candy - soft ball stage is about right.

If it gets too hard, add hot water to thin.

The recipe said strain into glass jar - it was so smooth I didn't bother to strain.

Also - use a big pan/pot - it does bubble up a lot toward the end.


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## JHinCA (Sep 20, 2003)

I made it a couple years ago with cows milk It was TOO good! We ate waay too much of it.

Jean


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I have done it w/ cows milk too....the perfect compliment to homemade icecream. You will never buy caramel topping in a jar again. Oh, so yummy!


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## Lannie (Jan 11, 2004)

I just saw this on "Good Eats" last week. Alton Brown called it "Milk Jam." I said "Eeeeeuuuuww! Milk JAM?" then I saw the recipe, so I jotted it down. It looked delicious!

I can't have any kind of sugar, though, so I'm going to try making it with Xylitol. I don't know if it will make the brown caramel color without sugar, but it should still taste good.

~Lannie


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

I have made this & it is good. I have a question. I poured it into jars & as they cooled they sealed. Would this keep on the shelf sealed like store caramel & then refrigerate after opening, or should I refrigerate it to be on the safe side??


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## susieM (Apr 23, 2006)

I make the Hillbilly Housewife sweetened condensed milk recipe in multiples and then can it and give it a three hour boiling water bath and it turns to delicious caramel that keeps (unless I find where I've hidden the jars).


Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup hot tap water


2 cups sugar

2 cups instant non-fat dry milk powder

6 tablespoons melted margarine

Blender or electric beaters

First get out your blender. You can beat the mixture with electric beaters if you prefer, but a blender really does a better job. A food processor would probably work pretty well too, but I've never tried it. So anyway, measure your hot water into the blender. Add the sugar, dry milk powder and melted margarine. Put the lid on the blender and whirl it around for a full minute. The mixure will be kind of thin, but will thicken up after standing for about an hour. This recipe makes about 3 cups, or the equivalent of two cans of condensed milk. Each store-bought can of sweetened condensed milk contains about 1-1/2 cups. So this recipe is equivalent to two cans. The mixture may be measured and used right away in any recipe calling for sweetened condensed milk. Or for longer storage, divide the mixture equally between two clean pint size canning jars. Store them in the fridge for a week. Or for longer storage, freeze them for a few months, and then just thaw before using. Every time you use this recipe instead of buying the name brand stuff from the store you will save about $3.00. Not bad for less than five minutes work. 

And for anyone who is skeptical: Yes, this recipe really works in all of the recipes the canned stuff does.


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

You know, Wendy -- I am not sure. I hope someone else knows. All of our unopened jars are out on the counter right now - but we refrigerate after we open them. 

...but they weren't vacuum sealed or anything- so... I hope we're not festering botulism or anything scary!!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I wouldn't keep it on the shelf even thought the lid 'popped.' That just means there's a vacuum, not that it is germ free.


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Jan 10, 2004)

I have made it accordingto the recipe in "goats produce too". It is wonderful...and takes a looong time lol.

I would put it in the fridge, I agree it just means there is a vaccuum nbot that itis sterilized.

not that it ever lasted long enough at my house to worry about storage...

my older kids use it when they make their own frapaccinos...


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## dezeeuwgoats (Jan 12, 2006)

Okay - you all have me convinced - it is on the stove as I type, lol!

DS is making chocolate chip cookies, we expect to have cookies and vanilla icecream with cajeta on top with our 'Friday Night Movie'!

Niki


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## dezeeuwgoats (Jan 12, 2006)

Everyone loved it! Definately a 'keeper'. Mine DID foam up when I added the baking soda. 

It is great on green apples too, by the way, lol.

Niki


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## Birch Greenway (Mar 23, 2007)

How long does this last in a jar in the fridge? Sounds yummy- I wonder if you could carmel popcorn with it?


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## dk_40207 (Jun 23, 2005)

I made it several years ago and when we made it we didn't add any sugar to the recipe we just reduced goat milk down until it became light brown and thick. If i remember it took several hours but we did something like 5 gallons of goat milk. We had to keep stirring it. 

DK


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

B.G. - I think it will keep indefinitely in the fridge. Ours doesn't stick around long enough to find out, though. 
I think if you get mold, toss - otherwise you should be fine.
Just made more this weekend. Stupidly delicous.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

I just made this the other day, but it didn't thicken like I thought it would. Even after being in the fridge for a few hours, it's easy to spoon out (and slurp up!) Very tasty, just the same, although more like butterscotch than caramel. I think I'll make ice cream and add the sauce to it


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

If you just keep cooking it, it will eventually get quite thick (and dark brown.) We actually prefer it at a more "pourable" consistency for eating over ice cream, though.


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## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

When I was a kid my folks would boil a can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk in a pan of water for an hour. When it cooled it was a wonderful caramel treat we'd eat from a spoon.

Don't let it go dry however. One time it was forgotten on the stove and when it exploded the goo went EVERYWHERE!! We were living in a home with 13 foot ceilings! What a mess. I don't think we ever got it all cleaned up. Seems like for years we would find places where it had crept into.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

If you boil your jars and seals and pour the cajeta in hot, this all the canning it needs. I have had it keep for a couple of seasons (I massively canned preY2k) fine in the pantry. I sell this on my sale table also to my goat milk customers. I make mine in the crock pot because I have the laziest homesteader around! I actually never thought about the fact that it should be in the fridge after opening, but I 'can' it in little half pints so it does not last anyway. 

The cajeta sold locally is made of goat milk and is sold in catsup type bottles, very cool. Vicki


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Vicki, I'm pretty lazy, so how do you do it in the crock pot?


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

When the milk is hot in the crock pot, add all the other ingredents, set it on low and leave it, stir it every once in awhile, and make sure you have a good lid so it contols the bubbles on the top of the simmer. I put in a whole vanilla bean that I cut in half and scarpe, fishing it out when it is through. I am going to try the cinnamon stick next. Vicki


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## yuyay (Aug 20, 2007)

I spent a few years in Argentina and this is a daily staple, but it's called dulce de leche there.

*Breakfast: Tortillas (which are more like biscuits in Argentina) spread with dulce de leche.

*After siesta snack: same as breakfast, or possibly cookies filled with dulce de leche.

*Any birthday or celebration cake: filled with dulce de leche.

*Every grocery store has at least one full isle of the stuff and most monasteries make extra money by selling artisanal dulce de leche and confections.

One hint I learned while there was to put a few clean, round stones in the bottom of the pot and it won't burn to the bottom. That way you don't have to watch it as much!

One more thing. If you are ever in Argentina (and I think Uruguay and Paraguay, too) don't EVER call it 'cajeta'. :nono: It is an extremely vulgar term there! :lookout:


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## cseger1 (Mar 23, 2007)

I thought dulce de lehe was made with cow's milk and cajeta with goat's - that that was the difference. Is the dulce de leche in Argentina made with goat's milk?


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## yuyay (Aug 20, 2007)

cseger1 said:


> I thought dulce de lehe was made with cow's milk and cajeta with goat's - that that was the difference. Is the dulce de leche in Argentina made with goat's milk?


I've read more about it and it seems that yes, in Mexico, what people refer to as cajeta is usually made with goat's milk now. Traditionally, cajeta was simply a thickened confection that could/can be made with any number of things including juices. In Mexico, the word cajeta eventually came to refer to the one made from half goat's milk and half cow's milk but throughout Latin America they are seen as the same thing; milk and sugar boiled down to thick caramelly goodness! The cow's milk/goat's milk issue is only be seen as a regional variation, just like how some use vanilla and some don't.

As for goat's milk dulce de leche in Argentina, I'm sure they produce it artisanally but not on a large scale because goats aren't as common there. I'm sure they'd even make it out of llama's milk if llamas could produce enough milk. LOL


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