Liquid Sweet
December 16th, 2008
Carnation Condensed Milk
Bangkok, Thailand – I never gave much thought to sweetened condensed milk, except on occasion when I had to buy it for some random recipe and then it freaked me out a little bit. It didn’t seem like a real ingredient; it was a strange industrial product made through some shadowy process and bearing little resemblance to what I knew of actual milk. It is made by removing the water through evaporation and adding sugar to create a sweet, thick shelf-stable product. First developed in the U.S. in the mid 19th century to overcome the difficulties of storing fresh milk, later used as a field ration during the Civil War, today it’s commonly used in desserts like pumpkin pie, key lime pie, flan and fudge. In a typically Thai way, this foreign ingredient has been co-opted and folded into some standard Thai snacks. It’s used to sweeten the ubiquitous Thai iced tea or coffee. It’s drizzled on top of hot, flaky roti fried on street corners throughout the city. And once in awhile evaporated milk (essentially unsweetened condensed milk) is poured over coconut ice cream and sold on the street. I suppose after recent reports that high-levels of melamine were found in Mali, a Thai brand of condensed milk, I should be more freaked out by it now. But I really love that roti.
Condensed Milk Section of a Local Market
Condensed Milk and Roti Dough
Condensed Milk Being Poured on Fried Roti
Thai Coffee Ingredients
Ice Cream with Evaporated Milk
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