is a
jelly-like dessert eaten in several Asian countries.
Africa Throughout much of central and western Africa, there is no tradition of a dessert course following a meal. Fruit or fruit salad would be eaten instead, which may be spiced, or sweetened with a sauce. In some former colonies in the region, the colonial power has influenced desserts – for example, the Angolan
cocada amarela (yellow coconut) resembles baked desserts in Portugal. In India, where sugarcane has been grown and refined since before 500 BC, desserts have been an important part of the diet for thousands of years; types of desserts include
burfis,
halvahs,
jalebis, and
laddus. is often served on Indian festivals such as
Raksha Bandhan and
Diwali.
Europe In Ukraine and Russia, breakfast foods such as
nalysnyky or
blintz or oladi (pancake), and
syrniki are served with
honey and
jam as desserts. In the Netherlands
vla is a popular dessert. It is a custard-like dessert that is served cold. Popular flavours are: vanilla, chocolate, caramel, and several fruit flavours. There is also hopjesvla which is flavoured like a
Hopje, a Dutch coffee and caramel sweet.
France Early use of the term The word
dessert as a culinary term appears as early as 1393 in the
Ménagier de Paris, where "
desserte" is included in three of the twenty-nine menus. The
desserte comes near the end of the meal, but before the
issue (departure) of hypocras and wafers, included in ten of the menus; and before the
boute-hors (sendoff) of wines and spices, included in four of the menus. The
desserte was the last cooked course of the meal, but the
boute-hors was the true final course of the meal. In the later printed book
Petit traicté auquel verrez la maniere de faire cuisine (c. 1536), more widely known from the edition titled
Livre fort excellent de cuisine (1542), the menus at the end of the book present the meal in four stages : the
entree de table (entrance to the table),
potaiges (foods boiled or simmered "in pots"),
services de rost (meat or fowl "roasted" in dry heat), and
issue de table (departure from the table). The
issue de table includes fruit, nuts, pastries, jellies, cheese, and cream. The menus do not mention "dessert".
Dessert in the "Classical Order" of table service Between the mid-16th and mid-17th century, the stages of the meal underwent several significant changes. Notably,
potage became the first stage of the meal, the
entrée became the second stage,
entremets came to be served in their own distinct stage after the
roast, and the last course of the meal came to be called "dessert". In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the dessert stage of the meal consisted entirely of foods "from the storeroom" (''de l'office''), such as fresh, stewed, preserved, and dried fruits; fruit jellies; nuts; cheese and other dairy dishes;
dry biscuits (cookies) and
wafers; and, beginning in the mid-18th century,
ices and
petits fours. On lean days out of Lent, the dishes in the dessert stage of the meal were the same as those served on meat days. In Lent, though, eggs were never served at any meal, and only dishes that did not include eggs were appropriate for the dessert stage. Despite the significance of dessert in the structured meals of the time, the dessert course was often not included on the menus or bills of fare of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Changes in the 19th and 20th centuries In the late 19th century, the word dessert, which properly referred to the last stage of the meal, came to refer also to the dishes that were served in that stage. In the 20th century, cheeses came to be served in their own course just before the dessert course. Also in the 20th century, sweet dishes from the kitchen, such as freshly prepared pastries,
meringues,
custards,
puddings, and baked fruits, which had traditionally been served in the
entremets course, came to be included among the desserts.
North America Ice cream in the
United States is popular.
Pie and
Cheesecake is also fairly popular in the US. Some of
Mexico’s favorite desserts are Flan,
Paletas, and
Pastel de Tres Leches. South America are a traditional coconut candy or confectionery found in many parts of
Latin America, made with eggs and shredded coconut.
Dulce de leche is a very common confection in Argentina. In Bolivia, sugarcane, honey and coconut are traditionally used in desserts.
Tawa tawa is a Bolivian sweet
fritter prepared using sugar cane, and
helado de canela is a dessert that is similar to sherbet which is prepared with cane sugar and cinnamon. In Chile,
kuchen has been described as a "trademark dessert". Several desserts in Chile are prepared with
manjar, (caramelized milk), including
alfajor,
flan,
cuchufli and
arroz con leche. puddings, nougat, coconut with syrup and thickened milk with sugarcane syrup. Desserts in Ecuador tend to be simple, and desserts are a moderate part of the cuisine. Desserts consumed in Ecuador include
tres leches cake, flan, candies and various sweets.
Oceania In Australia, meals are often finished with dessert. This includes various fruits. More complex desserts include cakes, pies and cookies, which are sometimes served during special occasions. New Zealand and Australia have a long-standing debate over which country invented the
Pavlova. The pavlova is named after
Anna Pavlova, who visited both countries in the 1920s. == Market ==