History of Sweetened Condensed Milk

As you have probably noticed in many of the Mexican dessert recipes I have shared with you, the use of sweetened condensed milk is widely used. I used to think that only my mom used this sugary milk when she made her cherry cheesecake. This milk has been used for almost 150 years! I had no idea......did you? I was playing around with a couple of recipes given to me by a friend and wondered who decided to combine milk and sugar in a can and make it thick. I found some interesting information and I hope you do too!

History of Sweetened Condensed Milk.

As you can imagine, it had to be a member of the Borden family who developed this milk. In 1851 Mr Gail Borden, Jr. was returning via ship from a trip to England. He was distraught about the death of several children on the ship, apparently from poor milk obtained from the cows on board. He had less than one year of schooling but knew something had to be done to keep milk fresh for more than a few hours. After several failures, he learned of the vacuum pan, used by the Shakers, a religious group. This vacuum pan allowed them to condense fruit juice and using this method he was able to reduce or condense the milk without scorching it. In 1853, his process of condensing milk worked and he was able to produce a usable milk that needed no refrigeration.

Borden had requirements for the farmers who sold him the raw milk, known as the "Dairyman's Ten Commandments", which included washing the udders before milking, keeping barns swept clean, scalding and drying the milk strainers morning and night. By 1858, Mr. Borden's milk, sold as Eagle Brand, was known for it's purity, durability and economy. Sugar was added to extend the shelf life of the milk. It can be kept unopened almost indefinitely.


By the time the Civil War had commenced, over 200 dairy farmers were supplying raw milk to Borden. The U.S government supplied it's Union soldiers with this canned milk as a field ration. After the war, the soldiers told of this wonderful product and it became a household product.


So, as Paul Harvey would have said, 'now you know the rest of the story'.


Click below to read the Dairyman's Ten Commandments”
http://w5ran.com/2010/01/the-dairymens-ten-commandments-mr-borden-1885/

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