Mexican Name Finder
SweetSpanishGuanajuato

Cajeta

"little box"

Say it

kah·HEH·tah

Built from

Spanish cajabox+-etadiminutive

What Cajeta means

Cajeta is a Mexican sweet name of Spanish origin meaning "little box". It is built from Spanish caja (box) and -eta (diminutive). It is pronounced kah-HEH-tah, and it is most associated with Guanajuato.

The goat's-milk caramel of Celaya is named for the small wooden boxes it was sold in, not for the milk or the method. In parts of South America the same word is coarse slang, one of the sharpest false friends in the Spanish-speaking food world.

This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: From colonial convent sweets like ate and jamoncillo to the chili-and-tamarind candies of the modern corner shop. Alegría means "joy", borrachito means "little drunk one", and muégano's name is a mystery even to Mexicans.

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Cajeta means little box

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