What Makes Great Sweetened Condensed Milk?
Essentially regular milk with more sugar and less water, sweetened condensed milk is a pantry staple, especially in households where baking is popular. Used in recipes for fudge, cheesecake, and pudding, this versatile product also works well as a beverage sweetener. Our expert chefs define high quality sweetened condensed milk as being moderately thick and having a color that ranges from ivory to pale yellow. Its low aroma intensity—the strength of its smell—should present no off notes. Sweetened condensed milk is in taste balance when bold sweetness leads, followed by low sourness that tempers the sweetness. Dairy should be the predominant flavor at a more intense level than the aroma. The flavor character, which suggests quality of ingredients, should be complex and feature dairy, sour, lactic, sweet, and caramel notes. The mouthweight of the best sweetened condensed milk will be heavy; its mouthfeel, or texture in the mouth, should be smooth. The milk’s sweetness should still seem
