It is to Argentina what peanut butter is to America and vegemite is to Australia -- the nation's signature spread in a jar: Dulce de leche. Sounds almost as pretty as it tastes: DUEL-say day LAY-chay. It means, literally, sweet from milk.

If you are reading this late at night, Josephine Oria may be stirring and stirring, watching the milk that will thicken over hours -- with sugar and vanilla added -- into the creamy, caramely product that bears the likeness and pet name of her 90-year-old grandmother, La Dorita.

Ms. Oria launched the business earlier this year to honor her grandmother, Maria Dora Germain, who lives in La Plata, Argentina.

Several stores in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area now sell it by the jar for $8.50. It also can be ordered from ladorita.net, but only by the case of 12 jars, at $7.50 each.

Used on pancakes and crepes, pastries and as a dip for fruit, dulce de leche has variations in other countries, but the Argentinians claim it, as Ms. Oria will tell you. "Argentina even has a dulce de leche day," June 21.

Ms. Oria's parents moved to Pittsburgh when she was a baby, and La Dorita would visit from La Plata for long periods of the year. "And I always cooked with her as her little helper," said Ms. Oria. "Her desserts always had dulce de leche. She made it because it was not available here. It took five hours.

"When I started having my own children six years ago, I made their birthday cakes, but when I found dulce de leche it would be expired or crystalized. I brought some from Argentina, and my husband started eating it. He grew up there. I was saving it for birthday cakes but for him it was like, 'How can you keep it in the closet?' In Argentina, it comes out for the breakfast table every day."

She decided to start making it for her family. That decision drew a stern warning from La Dorita -- "She told me, 'You have to have patience and patience and patience to make it.' " After five months, Ms. Oria and her husband, Gaston, decided to launch a side business.

They wanted to buy local milk that had not been pasteurized because the cooking process pasteurizes it, she said. "It makes a huge difference in the taste," she said. "I started visiting dairy farms. I wanted to support local farmers, and I was thinking of selling it at farmers markets."

The Orias joined the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and began selling at PASA's markets, including those at Market Square and Phipps Conservatory. "People had no idea what it was or they thought it was caramel. Someone said, 'You need to take this to Whole Foods.' " From there, she said, "it's been a snowball."

Demand "has come faster than we expected. We have been getting orders from Vermont, Colorado, people who found us on the Web." They're stirring almost 100 gallons a week now, five times as much as when they started.

"Our goal is to grow, to have employees and more machines and to open a commercial kitchen near our home. We think the dulce would do well in Philadelphia and New York."

Now working in their O'Hara home kitchen, the Orias trade off duties that start after getting home from their full-time jobs to four boys. Josephine is chief financial officer at Med Health Services in Monroeville, and Gaston is a credit analyst for PPG Industries. One or the other of them stirs milk from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. almost every day.

"It's a matter of stirring long enough, putting the sugar in at different boiling points" and adding Madagascar vanilla bean, she said. "It's you against the milk. Milk is a finicky product. It took awhile to find the right cream consistency."

When she pitched the product to Whole Foods in East Liberty, which now carries it, she said, "I went in with apples and carrot cake" to show that the product can be a dip and a spread. The Web site includes several ideas and "Dulce Delicious" recipes, including for a Puff Pastry-Wrapped Brie and Grilled Pizza with Peaches.

The product also is being carried by McGinnis Sisters in Monroeville, the Shadyside Market and So Me in Indiana.

Cheryl Scampone, the buyer for McGinnis Sisters, said La Dorita is "selling really well. We demo-ed it over the holidays with candied walnuts." The store started selling it in August and sells about a dozen jars, or a case, a week, she said. "It sells itself once people taste it."

Mil hojas means a thousand sheets or leaves (in this case, layers of pastry), and there are almost a thousand South American interpretations of this classic French dessert, the Napoleon. This dulce de leche variation is quick and easy, looks beautiful, and is simply delicious. Serve it with fresh fruit, or dress it up with seasonal decorations. Another variation is to roll the edges in coconut (spreading some extra dulce around the sides helps the coconut stick). Cover and store cake in refrigerator.

• 1 package frozen puff pastry dough, or 1 package La Saltena puff pastry tapas (rounds) for empanadas
• 2 jars La Dorita Dulce de Leche (enough to spread generously in between cake layers)
• 3 egg whites (you can use pasteurized egg whites)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Thaw the puff pastry slightly and unfold it onto a floured surface. Working quickly, roll each sheet into a thin sheet. Using a floured cookie cutter, cut into round shapes (size of your choice).

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and cook the puff pastry according to the directions on the box, until golden brown.

Spread 1 round of puff pastry with a thin layer of dulce de leche. Cover with another round of puff pastry.

Repeat until you have 6 layers of puff pastry. Do not spread dulce de leche on the top layer. Press lightly on cake to incorporate all of the layers.

Beat eggs until soft peaks form.

Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff, silky peaks form. Add vanilla and beat 1 more minute. Pile on cake!

Makes 6 servings.

-- ladorita.net

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.