Tembleque

When turned out of its mold onto a plate, the white coconut sweet trembles softly. Puerto Rico’s tembleque is a dessert of coconut milk set with cornstarch. Its name evokes that wobbling, and brown cinnamon dusted over the white surface adds pattern and aroma. It is a Christmas sweet for the table, enjoyed in homes in December.

Pressing milk from coconut flesh

Coconut milk is different from the clear coconut water that collects inside the fruit. It is a white liquid obtained by pressing the flesh. Besides making it from canned products, as is common today, home methods that begin with cracking open the fruit have also been passed down.

In a recipe (ingredient proportions and method) handed down in Carmen Aboy Valldejuli’s cookbook “Cocina Criolla,” the brown skin is removed from the flesh, and the flesh is grated, mixed with hot water, pressed and strained. Starch, sugar, salt and orange blossom water are then added and the mixture is heated. Orange blossom water is not juice but carries the scent of the flowers, adding a fragrance different from that of cinnamon.

Thickening in a pot and chilling in a mold

The basic combination is coconut milk, sugar, cornstarch and a little salt. Without adding eggs or grains of rice, the milky white liquid is set evenly. It also appears in a dictionary of regional usage as a soft Puerto Rican coconut sweet, with cloves and cinnamon listed.

The order in which the starch is added varies. In cook Eric Jiménez’s method, the cornstarch is dissolved in part of the cold milk and added little by little to the rest of the milk once warmed, and the mixture is stirred as it thickens. Besides vanilla, lemon zest or spices are used to taste, and the spices are removed before the mixture is poured into the mold. In the food company Goya’s method, the milk, sugar, starch and salt are combined in the pot from the start and brought to a boil while stirring. What the two share is dispersing the starch before heat is applied.

Unlike custard pudding, which is set by baking eggs, this sweet combines the thickening power of starch with chilling. After it is thickened in the pot, it is poured into molds and chilled. Goya’s recipe offers a choice of six small molds or one large mold. A thin knife is run around the set edge, the tembleque is turned out onto a plate, and cinnamon or toasted coconut is added. This finish layers the dry crunch of the coconut flesh over the smooth body. Alice Fevronia, who made the sweet herself, tried rinsing the mold with water and pouring the mixture in while it was still wet, then turning it out after chilling. Cooks have their own techniques even for unmolding.

There are also modern suggestions for setting it with arrowroot. Switching from cornstarch to another starch also requires adjusting the thickness and how easily it releases from the mold.

Choosing molds for Christmas and everyday tables

At Christmas in Puerto Rico, arroz con dulce, rice cooked with coconut milk and spices, also appears. Whereas arroz con dulce keeps its grains of rice, tembleque is coconut milk set evenly with starch. Even with the same coconut milk, the finished textures differ.

Meseidy Rivera, a cook who makes Puerto Rican dishes away from her homeland, names tembleque, coquito and arroz con dulce as her three favorite Christmas items. All of them center on coconut. She makes tembleque in small molds for everyday snacks and in a single square pan when bringing it to a gathering. Even away from the island, she continues to make the food of her homeland, using canned milk and choosing the size of the dish to suit the occasion.

Finishing with a chocolate swirl

In a method by Dev Amadeo published by the chocolate company Cortés, part of the cooked mixture is blended with melted chocolate and returned to the white mixture to create swirls. It is a variation that does not turn the whole thing brown, leaving both white and chocolate colors in the cut surface.

How it differs from the Philippine maja blanca

The Philippine maja blanca can also be made by setting coconut milk with starch. However, cook Vanjo Merano’s recipe also adds condensed milk, cow’s milk and kernels of sweet corn. Compared with maja blanca, which contains dairy products and corn kernels, tembleque’s uniform texture stands out.

Glossary