Unsweetened and sweetened condensed milk can be made from milk or recombined milk. Concentrated milk, also called condensed milk, by definition is product obtained by partial removal of water from milk.
It contains not less than 7,5% milk fat and not less than 25.5 % total solids, it is pasteurized but not processed by heat to prevent spoilage and it may be homogenized.
The main common manufacturing steps in the production of condensed milk are standardization, preheating, concentration and homogenization.
For condensed milk, water is removed from milk under a vacuum. The vacuum allows for milk to be heated and condensed at a lower temperature than in the open vat method in order to improve taste and quality.
Sweetened condensed milk has about 44 % added sucrose and water activity of about 0.82. Sweetened condensed milk should not be confused with canned evaporated milk.
Sweetened condensed milk has enough sugar added to make the total carbohydrate content 56%, compared with the 10% carbohydrate content of evaporated milk. Sugar is used to preserve the product.
Condensed milk are process into types of products: bulk and canned milk. Canned products are intended mainly for home use as a baking ingredient. Bulk milk is used or sold for further processing into other dairy products or for processing into non-dairy products.
Condensed milk processing
