Homemade unsweetened Evaporated Milk, need advice

Has anyone ever made their own unsweetened evaporated/condensed milk? All the recipes seem to call for powdered milk to be added, is that really necessary? Milk comes in in such volume and I would like to have my own coffee/tea creamer during the down season.

Yes. But it is HARD WORK unless you have a steam jacket pot or other precise temp control. You go from doing nothing to scorched in like 2 degrees.

It also doesn't store that well and by the time you are done you have pretty much killed all the nutritional value.


Instead, I make Dolce de Leche. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dulce-de-leche-recipe.html I upsize to start with 2 gallons of whole jersey/swiss milk (so about a third heavy cream). Because of the high fat, it will never thicken down to the candy stage but stays a wonderful caramel. DROOL

I haven't done it myself, but as a chemist, I am familiar with the process. The reason that recipes to do at home call for powdered milk is, as RScott says, the equipment to do the evaporation is not something commonly found in the home. The way to avoid the problem of precise temperature control or using a steam jacket is to pull a vacuum on the container of milk and draw the water off that way. When you draw a vacuum on the container of milk, the boiling point of the liquid is decreased and the temperature doesn't get high enough to burn the proteins in the milk. Laboratories and dairy processing industries invest in a piece of equipment know in the trade as a "rotevap" or rotary evaporator. Rotary because the flask containing the liquid spins around in a water bath, while the evaporator part of the equipment pulls a vacuum on it.

If you are adept with using pressure cookers, you could hook that up to a source of vacuum and use it to draw off the water. If you are still interested in this as a DIY project, let me know and I will put on my MacGyver hat and try to come up with a process.

In the cooks world this is called reduction . Works well for sauces , stocks , etc. IMHO , evaporated milk is just budget cream . I have successfully substituted cream for any recipe calling for evaporated milk . Real cream and coffee with honey ? Can't beat it .

I have made evaporated more than once but never condensed. For evaporated milk, I just put the milk in a pot on the stove, turn it on low and leave it for a few hours until it has reduced to half.

My go to "creamer" for coffee and tea is actually just milk, but like the person above me mentioned, if you want real creamer you can just go with real cream. It is pretty decadent especially if you are used to that odd powdered non dairy creamer stuff. Coconut milk also works as a good creamer (super high fat content) if you don't mind a touch of coconut with your coffee and tea.

Thanks so much everybody.. this post was for my friend who lives in the middle of nowheresville. She has the best milk but way too much and has a problem making use of it all. She makes yogurt, soft cheese, and even ends up raising pigs with it some years. She sprouts organic barley with her raw milk, best pork ever but it is another animal to care for and she sometimes is in no mood for that.
I want her milk even if it is cooked down to help support her.. but how to get it to me?
I thought about this because she could in theory 'can ' it up and I could buy cases of it and stop purchasing it in a store for the coffee I'm hooked on having just a dash of whole milk in..I figure I'd use one jelly jar every week. YES raw fresh cream is the best, when I go visit her .. but I'd settle for HER stuff cooked down over store milk anyday. I'm going to share with her all these insights and see what she thinks, she has quite the scientific mind and will most likely understand better than I do. From what I have read even unsweetened evaporated milk once canned can last easily a year, milk has enough of it's own sugars for my taste. I could buy anything but just looking for a way to get away from that. Also I am about to move off grid with no fridge
Thanks Again Permies People

Sounds like you need to learn how to make evaporated milk ! Found a recipe on line :

http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-make-evaporated-milk.html

Well that sounds simple enough, I was kind of hoping it would be just a matter of reducing it.. Guess all that's left to do it try it!
Thanks again

Roxanne Sterling-Falkenstein wrote: Guess all that's left to do it try it!

Let me suggest that you use an indirect method of heating the milk, like a double boiler or a water bath. If you use direct heat on top of a burner, your stirring has to be flawless.

I make my own from our organic goat milk. One does have to pressure can it. The only note I would say is that if your milk has a high butterfat content you might want to skim off the fat because it separates during processing. You can leave it too. I just use the thick cream at the top for coffee, etc... Yes, we use it and it is just wonderful and the best part is that I know what is in it.

Celeste

Let me suggest that you use an indirect method of heating the milk

The ever important flame tamer will be in use...