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Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Hispanic Heritage
Sweets for the Sweet

Hispanic Heritage
Hispanic Heritage

Sweets for the Sweet
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Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.7

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    abuelos, Alfenique, Bunuelos, cajetas, canela, caramelize, Chongo, chongos, Empanadas, flan, guayabate, mangate, queso, sopaipilla, sopaipillas, traditional
     content words:    United States, New Mexico, Traditional Mexican, When Europeans, New World, In Nuevo Leon

Sweets for the Sweet
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Have you ever eaten in a Mexican restaurant in the U.S.? If you have, you have probably looked at the dessert menu. In the United States, you usually find fried ice cream, sopaipillas, or flan on the menu of a Mexican restaurant. Fried ice cream is usually a scoop of ice cream rolled in corn flakes and then deep fried. Sopaipillas are made with sweet dough. The dough is rolled out and cut into squares. The squares are placed in hot oil to cook. While in the oil, they puff up like a sofa pillow. That's where the name comes from. When the dough is a golden brown, it is taken out of the oil and drained. When it's time to eat a sopaipilla, you bite the corner off and coat the inside with jam or honey. Flan is custard. The top of the custard has been covered with sugar. The sugar is then burned to caramelize it.
 
2     These are all very good desserts. But they are not the best that Mexico has to offer. As a matter of fact, it is believed that the sopaipilla was created in New Mexico. It is not a native Mexican dish.
 
3     Traditional Mexican desserts take advantage of what nature has to offer in the different regions of the country. Most of the recipes were brought from Spain. One of the native additions to the desserts has been chocolate. Chocolate was used by the Aztecs before the Spanish arrived. When Europeans came to the New World, they brought their own additions to the recipes. Milk, eggs, and flour were a welcome addition. Wonderful fruits were also native to Mexico. They were soon added to recipes that were already rich in flavor.
 
4     Two ingredients used to add sweet flavor to desserts are special to Mexico. Cinnamon is just a bit different from what is found in the States. This cinnamon is called canela. It is lighter than what you find north of the border. It also has a floral taste. Vanilla is also a truly great ingredient found in Mexico. The vanilla flavor is extracted from vanilla beans that are found in a pod. It is difficult to find, but it is well worth the search.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
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Hispanic Heritage
             Hispanic Heritage

United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 

United States History
    A Nation Divided
(1840-1861) 		 
 
    A New Nation
(1776-1830) 		 
 
    After the Civil War
(1865-1870) 		 
 
    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
(1947-1991) 		 
 
    Colonial America (1492-1776)  
 
    Lewis and Clark
(1804-1806) 		 
 
    Pearl Harbor  
 
    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
    The 1900's  
 
    The 1910's  
 
    The 1920's  
 
    The 1930's  
 
 
    The 1940's  
 
    The 1950's  
 
    The 1960's  
 
    The 1970's  
 
    The 1980's  
 
    The 1990's  
 
    The 2000's  
 
    The Civil War
(1861-1865) 		 
 
    The Great Depression
(1929-1945) 		 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900) 		 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
    Wild, Wild West  
 
    World War I
(1914-1918) 		 
 
    World War II  
 

50 States

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