Postre de Natas is a traditional Colombian dessert. This recipe is simple and delicious.
What is Postre de Natas?
I am not sure how to best translate Postre de Natas in English, but I can tell you how to make it! Basically, it is a dessert made by boiling milk several times and taking off the foam or cream that forms every time it's boiled.
The foam is placed in a different pot and then mixed with a sugary syrup, eggs, raisins, and some people also add rum to it. Feel free to omit the raisins if you don't like them.
I know this Postre de Natas recipe is going to bring a lot of memories to my Colombian readers who have migrated to other countries. This is the classic grandmother's dessert.
This Postre de Natas is probably one of the most popular and traditional Colombian desserts. It originates from the Andean zone of Colombia and although it takes a little bit of time to prepare, the steps to make this dessert are straight forward and simple. The effort is well worth it, as this dessert has a wonderful combination of textures and flavors.
Postre de Natas Recipe (Colombian-Style Milk Pudding)
Ingredients
- 1 gallon of whole milk
- 2 cups of sugar or more if necessary
- 4 egg yolks
- Raisins to your taste
- Rum to your taste
Instructions
- Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat, letting it sit for a couple of seconds. Then using a fork, remove the creme that forms on top and save it in a container. Repeat this process until no more cream or nata forms.
- In a small pot prepare a syrup with the sugar and one cup of the remaining milk left over in the pot.
- Whisk the yolks using an electric mixer until pale and add them to the syrup, stirring until well incorporated. Add the raisins, rum and the cream(natas). Mix very carefully and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, without stirring.
- Transfer to individual serving dishes and let it cool in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
I will be honest, I have never made Postre de Natas before, as I always thought of it as something very tedious and difficult to do. Oh boy, was I wrong! Now that I have made my own Postre de Natas recipe, I can't believe it took me so long to try something that is so easy, and rewarding, to make!
Looking for More Desserts to Try?
Coffee Mouse (Esponjado de Café)
Lea Ann (Cooking On The Ranch)
I think it looks incredible and I'd love to give it a try. And what an interesting process. Makes you wonder how anyone ever thought to do it to make a dessert.
Norma-Platanos, Mangoes & Me!
I remember my Mami loving this postre.
ela@GrayApron
How interesting! It has all the right flavors...must taste delicious! 🙂 ela
Mayito Castillo
Este es otro de mis preferidos. Me sabe a gloria. Gracias por la receta!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
I don't think I have ever had this milk pudding...it looks mouthwatering!
Evelyne@cheapethniceatz
I adore milk puddings, just made on myself, and this is such a unique way of making it. Very tempted to try it soon!
grace
what a delicious way to finish a meal!
Lucia
I have tried many of your recipes and I have been hoping you would upload one of my favorite Colombian desserts... I´m so excited to try it. 🙂
Espero que mi novio le gusta porque la idea de comer natas en esta manera es un poco raro para los que no estan acustumbrados,jej.
Cian Hennessy
The best taste EVER
Anonymous
Uy que delicia!! Yo tambien siempre tuve la impresion de que era tremendamente laborioso (como... demasiado, a tal punto que nunca me atrevi a buscar la receta...). Voy a intentarlo este fin de semana. Muchas gracias!! 😀
Pattie
One of my favorite desserts growing up was ponche
Colombiancooking
Can you make thsi with pasteurized milk or does it have to be raw milk? I alwats thought it had to be raw milk. I'm excited to try it if it can be made ith whole milk from the grocery store.
Thanks
Erica Dinho
I used pasteurized whole milk.
Natalie
When you refer to the layer that produces boiling milk is not the foam. It is called milk skin. Postre de natas consists in removing the skin of the milk as the milk boils, and setting it apart to make the dessert with it. I have never used egg yolks just milk and sugar. It is delicious 🙂
Jimena
I just finished making this last night. It took a long time to collect the skin of the milk from a whole gallon of milk but I did it. My only problem is that your instructions say to make a simple syrup with one cup of milk left in the pan and two cups of sugar . That's just what I did it it came out way to sweet. I even added more of the left over milk but it's just to sweet. What a shame
So much work for nothing . Maybe I will try again some day but this time I will start with just one cup of sugar and taste as I go instead of following the recipe blindly .
Tatiana
So rude
Paco Pinto
Yo soy colombiano y mi esposa tiene antepasados en Cornwall (Cornualles). Allí y en Devon se come mucho lo que llaman "clotted cream," que es como nuestro postre de natas pero que sirven con o sin dulce.
I'm Colombian and my wife has Cornish ancestors. In Cornwall and Devon there is a dessert called "clotted cream" which is basically the same as our postre de natas, except that it can be served sweetened or unswetened.
E Yepes
Postre de natas is my Colombian husband's favorite dessert. He buys it at the supermarket when he is in Colombia or orders it at restaurants. I followed Erika's recipe yesterday, making it from scratch for the first time. It took about 3 hours of boiling the milk to get all the "natas." During this time I wondered "who in the heck invented this recipe?!?" My husband explained that they had to boil the unpasturized milk back in the day and someone probably saved the skins. Tip: to make this process more efficient, boil the milk in 4 pots instead of one. Make sure you use heavy-bottomed pans because you will get some burnt milk at the bottom. I kept my milk at a very slow simmer and was able to constantly skim without removing from heat.
I cut the sugar in half, added 1/4 c rum and poured some of the hot syrup into my egg yolks before adding them all to the syrup pot. I simmered about 5 minutes at the end and still had some burnt pudding at the bottom of my pot.
This was a frustrating recipe for me and I really think Erika's Arroz con Leche (with half the sugar) is so amazing, why go to the trouble to make this time-consuming Postre de Natas? BUT, today, my husband took one bite of the dessert and was so happy, saying this was the best he had ever tasted (I bet the supermarket version doesn't have rum!) - SO maybe I will make it again, but only for a very special occasion.