# Cooking canned milk in a can to make caramel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410 "2003-04-27T00:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wicked\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/21 "2003-04-28T02:05:19Z")
You know, until I read this thread I had no idea caramel was made from milk. Hooray for fighting ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/22 "2003-04-28T02:17:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*That [milk.com](http://milk.com) recipe says you can punch a small hole, but I don’t buy it. > > I’m going to try this soon, and we’ll see if my kitchen gets coated in splattered caramel (not that I’d mind all that much 🙂 > > I can get really good store-bought dulce de leche here too, so we’ll see how fresh compares to canned (or, rather, cardboard canned: which is very odd…) \*\* The fresh is MUCH better. BTW: I looked at some notes I’d made: 1.5-2 hours for thick, pour it in coffee for coffee heaven-pancake batter consistancy, 2.5-3.5 hours for solid. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/23 "2003-04-28T02:19:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wicked Blue \* > \*\*You know, until I read this thread I had no idea caramel was made from milk. > Hooray for fighting ignorance! \*\* It isn’t, actually. Caramel is made from melted sugar. You can add stuff to it (like milk or butter) to give it a different consistancy, but caramel=melted sugar. What’s happening is that the high pressure/heat causes the sugars in the sweetened condensed milk to caramelize. The milk\* makes it yummy and creamy, but it’s the sugar doing the caramelization. Fenris \*Yeah, I know. Lactose=milk sugars, but let’s not go there. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/24 "2003-04-28T03:00:53Z")
For those of you who are worried about the cans exploding, it works just fine in a pressure cooker. Here’s a link with pressures and times: [http://recipe-cookie.com/54/286271.shtml](http://recipe-cookie.com/54/286271.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/25 "2003-04-28T03:42:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by honeydewgrrl \* > \*\*I’m giving it a try, as soon as I walk to the corner store. If I want to make it thick, can I get it out of the can in one chunk or will I have to scrape it out? \*\* The easiest way to get stuff out of a can in one piece is to open (but not remove) both ends, and push the contents through. With a manual wheel-type opener, turning it backwards a bit at first gets the end off cleanly. Watch that water level, and enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/26 "2003-04-28T05:03:46Z")
I love my pressure cooker, but as a vegitarian, I’m always trying to find ways to justify owning one beyond just things like a super-fast risotto. ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/27 "2003-04-28T07:31:43Z")
Here in Oz (and New Zealand) sweetened condensed milk was a staple in pioneer times (about twenty years before I was born) and the boiling in the tin caramel thing has been popular with ladies of a certain age, for many a long year. So much so, in fact, that the makers of sweetened condensed milk have recently bought out a product which is already caramelised. Same size tin and all, just a label showing tempting looking brown goo, instead of a happy cow. No explosion problems, y’see? However as a recently diagnosed diabetic (type 2, since you ask) I can’t even _think_ about such things without my blood sugar level rising. I’ll have to go and take a Diaformin now, straight after my Homer impersonation. Mmm… sweetened condensed milk caramel (pre-cooked)… gurgle gurgle… Redboss ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/28 "2003-04-28T12:27:32Z")
Can you make this with the low-fat sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) or does it have to be the regular sweetend condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk). Yeah, right, I’m thinking calories in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/29 "2003-04-28T12:28:37Z")
What if you cook the can in a crockpot? Would that be safer than on the stovetop? ---
**Author:** ![Pergau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7c8e57/32.png) [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/30 "2003-04-28T12:49:20Z")
Mrs Pergau, usually makes a bunch of them at christmas when we are boiling the christmas puddings! They last for ages in the unopened can. But I hate Banoffi! ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/31 "2003-04-28T12:49:47Z")
I’d never heard of this before a camping trip some of my buds and I went on many years ago. One of my partners pulls out a can of condensed milk and tosses it into the edge of the campfire. Everyone was like “what the hell?” and he says “trust me” and sure nuff the next day when he opened up the cooled can it was a delicious treat. I don’t recall the exact recipe but he probably removed it after a few hours or he may have left it in the dying embers but it’s good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/32 "2003-04-28T12:53:07Z")
What **Fenris** said. Caramel is melted sugar; add dairy products to it and you have toffee or butterscotch or fudge or tablet or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/33 "2003-04-28T13:05:40Z")
Mission successful. After 2 hours of (admittedly tentative) simmering it had the consistancy of the caramel on McDonalds’ sundaes. A bit creamier, but just as pourable. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/34 "2003-04-29T02:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*Can you make this with the low-fat sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) or does it have to be the regular sweetend condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk). > > Yeah, right, I’m thinking calories in this thread. \*\* They _make_ low-fat sweetened condensed milk? ! In any case I suspect it would work just fine. Since it’s the sugar that caramelizes, not the fat, I suspect that there would only be a slight reduction in the “richness” of the caramel. :: rushes out to get low-fat sweetened condensed milk to try it with :: ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/35 "2003-04-29T04:14:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*Can you make this with the low-fat sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) or does it have to be the regular sweetend condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk). > > Yeah, right, I’m thinking calories in this thread. \*\* Hell, I’m thinking Weight Watchers points! Anybody? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![d\_redguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@d\_redguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d_redguy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410/36 "2003-04-29T04:23:00Z")
We have a book called [The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0609804138/qid=1051590202/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-5710758-0868729?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Very funny book. The author has dubbed the concoction “danger puddin’”. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-canned-milk-in-a-can-to-make-caramel/171410.md?page=1)