What is leche merengada?

What is leche merengada?

Leche merengada, often translated as meringue milk, is a traditional Spanish drink. Milk is heated with cinnamon, lemon peel and sugar, cooled, then combined with beaten egg white meringue. It is served very cold or frozen and finished with ground cinnamon.

What does it taste like?

Creamy, lightly sweet, with warm cinnamon and fresh lemon notes. The texture is soft and frothy, closer to a soft ice than to plain milk.

Typical ingredients

• Whole milk
• Sugar
• Lemon peel (zest)
• A cinnamon stick
• Egg whites, whipped with sugar into meringue
• Ground cinnamon for serving

Amounts differ by recipe. One published version uses 750 ml of milk with about 60 g sugar for the milk and 2 egg whites, and another uses 2 1/2 cups milk and 3 egg whites. Check your chosen recipe.

Origin

It is a Spanish drink, and one recipe source places it in Andalucia while noting it is popular across the country. Another page says a recipe appeared in Juan de la Mata’s cookbook El Arte de repostería (1747), where it was called a delicious iced milk. Treat claims about older origins cautiously.

How it differs from similar drinks

• Horchata: made from tigernut or rice, not milk and meringue.
• Milkshake: blended with ice cream, not cinnamon-lemon milk with meringue.

Food safety

Classic recipes use raw egg whites. Use very fresh eggs, or substitute pasteurized egg whites (one recipe uses 6 tablespoons for 3 eggs), especially for children, pregnant women and older adults. One recipe writer does not recommend plant milks because they change the flavor a lot.

It contains sugar and egg, so it is a dessert-style treat. People with milk or egg allergies should avoid it.