1

You can make dulce de leche by cooking a can of sweetened condensed milk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8LT7yAtiaI&t=178s Could you explain how the consistency changes to something much more viscous without any water evaporating? Also, is this effect used in baked goods to make the final product more stable?

phobic
  • 141
  • 2
  • Do you know for a fact that it is more viscous? Condensed milk is already pretty syrupy. – FuzzyChef Oct 30 '22 at 18:24
  • i suppose it is because the milk proteins denature. a cooked egg is thicker than a raw one as well. – ths Oct 30 '22 at 23:20
  • 1
    @FuzzyChef I think it's pretty obvious if you give it a try. But then I'm not sure how to accurately measure viscosity in general. The video shows that the dulce de leche does not level out on the spoon by itself, so it's almost solid compared to sweetened condensed milk, which is more akin to a fluid. – phobic Nov 01 '22 at 19:20
  • 1
    It's complicated, but is essentially heat-processing causing polymerization. This has lots of details but (frustratingly) really doesn't get into thickening processes as such, nor the method you are using (other than noting that large factories that produce evaporated milk use it as a feedstock - and that part is done under vacuum at lower temperatures, which does play into why it has room for changes at boiling temperatures.) https://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/65575.pdf – Ecnerwal Dec 03 '22 at 22:05
  • @Ecnerwal This is great! I even learned some new things about the Meillard reaction :) I would accept an answer citing the paragraph explaining the sugar crystallization leads to an increase in viscosity ("The increased crystallization is necessary for the product to become solid and firm enough to be cut and served in pieces."...). Too bad I'm not able to read the references. My guess is that [6,7] contain more information about the crystallization process. – phobic Dec 31 '22 at 08:27

0 Answers0