Rachel Laudan

The Mexican food literature including cookbooks and histories is huge and of high quality. A month or two ago one of the best of these appeared: La Dulcería Mexicana Historia, Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico City:Limusa).

This sweet, a gloriously decorated slab of milk fudge called jamoncillo, is not in the book but it gives a bit of an idea of the glory of Mexican sweets.

The author, José Luis Curiel, has pulled off a tour de force. He’s eminently prepared to do so.

Trained as a chemical engineer, he has specialised in food science and technology, founded one of the premier culinary programs in Mexico, the degree in Gastronomy from the University of the Claustro of Sor Juana, and spent much of his spare time delving into the history of Mexican gastronomy. We’ll talk about his books on culinary history on some other occasion.

All this comes together in this illuminating book. It has a brief history of confectionary in Mexico from the convents sweets that were already specialised according to the convent by the end of the sixteenth century. It describes the science and technology of Mexican (and other) sweet making: sugar chemistry, acids and enzymes, colors and flavors, lipids, water, hydrocolloids, and milk sweets. There are recipes from the 13th century Baghdad cookbook, through Spain, and up to modern Mexico. And finally it gives detailed instructions for dozens of Mexican sweets, including nut brittles, milk cajetas, fruit cajetas, fruit pastes and rolls, chilied tamarind, alegrias, charamuscas, cocadas, alfajores, and candied fruits.

Now if you’ve grown up on Mars Bars, and Hershey kisses and the like, Mexican sweets may seem a bit a of stretch. But what a heritage. What freshness, what flavor. If you’re interested in Islamic sweets, their spread around the world, Spanish sweets, or Mexican sweets, this is a terrific resource.