According to the RAE, majarete is a sweet made with grated tender corn, milk, and sugar, which is cooked and sets as it cools. It is known in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and in Venezuela it is also prepared with coconut pulp.

In Dominican cuisine, majarete is a traditional dessert made with tender corn, sugar, milk, and spices. In the country, corn has been present in cooking since Indigenous times and still forms the basis of many dishes today.

Traditionally, majarete is made with a freshly cut corn cob; however, in urban areas it is not always available, so canned corn has been adopted as an alternative. Some researchers point out that this dessert dates back to the colonial era and that, in addition to the Dominican Republic, it is part of the culinary tradition of countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. In the Dominican case, majarete is a symbol of local gastronomic culture and one of the typical sweets made in households throughout the year.

Researcher Bido states: "While we cannot determine the age of the dish or the authorship of its preparation, nor have we been able to find the origin of the word majarete, some authors, such as Fradique Lizardo (1999), have expressed their concern about identifying this form of preparation among Indigenous peoples. In its sweet version as a dessert or its savory version as a corn cream, it is not explicitly reported by the chroniclers, but they prepared a corn soup by grating the cob, and making majarete was entirely within the possibilities and techniques available to our Indigenous peoples in their time."

On La Tia Clara’s cooking website, cocinadominicana.com, it is explained that majarete is a fusion dessert, stating: "It may have emerged from the flans brought from Europe, but in the Americas ingredients that were readily available were added."