![]() A blancmange set on a glass platter | |
Course | Dessert |
---|---|
Serving temperature | Cold |
Main ingredients | Milk or cream; sugar; gelatin, cornstarch or Irish moss; almonds |
Blancmange (/bləˈmɒnʒ/,[1] from French: blanc-manger [blɑ̃mɑ̃ʒe], lit. 'white eat') 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[2] (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with almonds.
It is usually set in a mould and served cold. Although traditionally white, blancmanges are frequently given other colours.
Blancmange originated at some time during the Middle Ages from the older Middle Eastern muhallebi,[3] and usually consisted of capon or chicken, milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar; it was considered to be an ideal food for the sick.[citation needed]
Similar desserts include Bavarian cream, Italian panna cotta, Turkish Tavuk göğsü, Chinese almond tofu, Hawai'ian haupia and Puerto Rican tembleque.