Food Explained: Evaporated Versus Condensed Milk

The other day I was thinking about making some fudge and checked a few recipes, which all called for evaporated milk. When I went to the store I was confused on whether I should get condensed milk or evaporated milk — I mean, they are the same thing, right?

Are they? Well, yes and no. When you see the words evaporated and condensed, you can’t help but feel like they should be one and the same. I mean, isn’t evaporated milk a condensed form of milk? The truth is that standard condensed milk and evaporated milk are exactly the same. They are both condensed using high heat to get rid of the water.

The difference is when you look at the sweetened condensed milk. If you look on your store shelves, odds are, the majority — if not all of the cans –of condensed milk are called sweetened condensed milk. While standard evaporated and condensed milk may be a little sweet due to carbohydrates converted into sugars during the heating process, sweetened condensed milk has sugar actually added. A lot of sugar added, to be honest.

When you buy a can of sweetened condensed milk, as much as 40 percent of what’s in that can is sugar. That’s why you don’t put sweetened condensed milk in many things except supremely sweet desserts, while evaporated milk is used for more everyday recipes.

In essence, evaporated milk is just a concentrated milk base. I admit to being quite surprised by this condensed versus evaporated milk discovery, but it made sense. I went back to some of my recipes and they all called for either evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk. I wonder what other little kitchen and recipe discoveries I can make with a little digging. I guess we’ll just have to find out. I think my next foray may be into the difference between country fried and chicken fried chicken. Oh, I’m getting tingles already.

See also:

Food for Thought: Great, Healthy Go-Time MealsRecipe: Oven-Fried ChickenHealthy Eating: Hershey Light and Luscious Desserts CookbookHealthy Habits: Reshape Your Food ThinkingIndian Spices & Fried Chicken RecipeEpic Fail: Not-So Kitchen ConfidentialSo Good, Yet So Bad: Top 5 Fair FoodsRaising Your Own ChickensBirthday Parties: How About Homemade Chocolate Frosting?

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