What is Evaporated Milk?
Evaporated milk, also known as dehydrated milk, is a shelf-stable canned milk product with homogenized milk from which 60 percent of the water has been removed. After removing of water, the product is freezed, fortified with vitamins, stabilized, packaged and sterilized. A slightly caramelized flavor results from the high heat process, and it is slightly darker in color than fresh milk. The evaporation process also concentrates the nutrients and the food energy. Thus, for the same weight, undiluted evaporated milk contains more food energy than fresh milk. It differs from sweetened condensed milk, which contains added sugar. Sweetened condensed milk requires less processing since the added sugar inhibits bacterial growth.
When mixed with an equal amount of water, evaporated milk becomes the equivalent of fresh milk. This means the actual liquid product takes up half the space of fresh milk, making it attractive for shipping purposes and can have a shelf life of 1 year. This made evaporated milk very popular before refrigeration as a safe and reliable substitute for perishable fresh milk and easily for storage.
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