Blancmange
Blancmange (/bləˈmɒnʒ/, from French: blanc-manger [blɑ̃mɑ̃ʒe]) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with almonds.
A blancmange set on a glass platter | |
| Course | Dessert |
|---|---|
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Milk or cream; sugar; gelatin, cornstarch or Irish moss; almonds |
It is usually set in a mould and served cold. Although traditionally white (the literal English translation of the name is "white eating"), blancmanges are frequently given alternative colours.
The historical blancmange originated at some time during the Middle Ages from the older Middle Eastern muhallebi, and usually consisted of capon or chicken, milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar and was considered to be ideal for the sick.
Some similar desserts are French chef Marie-Antoine Carême's Bavarian cream, Italian panna cotta, Turkish Tavuk göğsü, Chinese almond tofu, Hawai'ian haupia and Puerto Rican tembleque.