Dessert

A dessert is a dish that consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. Desserts commonly conclude a meal as a course in many restaurants, while in some parts of the world, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal. Historically, the dessert course consisted entirely of foods 'from the storeroom' (de l'office), including fresh, stewed, preserved, and dried fruits; nuts; cheese and other dairy dishes; dry biscuits (cookies) and wafers; and ices and ice creams. Sweet dishes from the kitchen, such as freshly prepared pastries, meringues, custards, puddings, and baked fruits, were served in the entremets course, not in the dessert course. By the 20th century, though, sweet entremets had come to be included among the desserts. The modern term dessert can apply to many sweets, including fruit, custards, gelatins, puddings, biscuits, cookies, macaroons, pastries, pies, tarts, cakes, ice creams, and sweet soups.