In my childhood, there was always a can of 'evap' in the cupboard - evaporated milk [usually Carnation brand]. Mum would whisk it up till it thickened, and pour it over tinned peaches for a Sunday Tea treat. Or she'd dilute it, to make a creamy rice pudding, or thick custard for her suet roly-poly pudding.
If we ran out of regular milk [very rarely] she would dilute evap and pour it into the milk jug for tea or cereal. If I see evap on offer in the supermarket, I occasionally pick up a tin to go in the cupboard.
Last week, they had some beautiful raspberries on sale, when Bob and I went to buy our veg. He loves these ruby red fruits. I bought a punnet - then came over all 'retro' when I got home. I decided to make a milk jelly. M&S have a good recipe.
INGREDIENTS - SERVES 8135g raspberry [or strawberry] jelly
150ml just-boiled water
175ml evaporated milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
fresh raspberries [or strawberries]
Snip the jelly into small pieces. Chill the evaporated milk.
METHOD
1 Measure the just-boiled water in a jug from the
kettle and immediately add the chopped jelly cubes. Stir well and set aside for
5 minutes to melt completely, stirring now and then.
2 Add 150ml cold water to the jug, stirring well again,
and put the whole lot in the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until almost (but
not quite) set.
3 Whisk the chilled evaporated milk and lemon juice
together in a mixing bowl until thick and frothy. Add the not-quite-set jelly
and whisk again until the mixture is smooth and frothed.
4 Divide between eight glasses or cups and chill for at
least an hour or up to 24 hours before serving. Top with the berries to serve.
Mum never added the lemon juice - but I found it really helped thicken the milk when I whisked it. You will have to wait to find out what I did with the remainder of my can of evap...
Years ago I used to make a dessert with evaporated milk, you whisk the milk in a big bowl until its twice the volume. Melt a jelly using a very small amount of water and then whisk into the milk, pour into individual bowls and put in the fridge. I have tried using a small can and just half a jelly, it works and its enough for two. Strawberry and blackcurrant were the best jellies because of the colour. I also used it in the trifle at Christmas instead of custard.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of using it like that in a trifle
DeleteHow yummy! Did you know that you can freeze evap milk?
ReplyDeleteNo! Wow-that IS useful if a recipe only needs half a tin...
DeleteI used to love milk jelly - so much better than blancmange which is one of the few things I've never liked.
ReplyDeleteMore often we had evap milk pored over jelly with fruit in it - usually a tin of fruit cocktail - Sunday tea with cousins! There would have been a tin of ham to start with - we lived miles from a shop so tins were always useful
Sounds like my childhood Sunday tea too (Mum kept a tin of ham in case of emergency visitors needed sandwiches)
DeleteI was telling my daughter in law about ‘milk jelly’ last week. It was a special treat! If we were very lucky we had raspberries from the garden, too.
ReplyDeleteEvaporated milk is handy in our house as we live out away from the town and with the pandemic I was restricting grocery runs for a long time, so running out of milk needed an alternative, and like your Mum I diluted it if I ran out of regular milk. I haven't made a milk jelly in years. By the way, we have jelly crystals in Canada, easier to dissolve, but I felt a certain nostalgia when I read about cutting up the jelly in order to melt it! I remember those jewel-like slabs.
ReplyDeleteYou can get jelly crystals here too. But I prefer the slab of cubes. It is easier to make a half-size jelly
DeleteMy only experience of using evap milk was when I had to make Raspberry mousse in Year 8 HE. You did a good job- it looks good!
ReplyDeleteCheck out the carnation website, it shows the versatility of this convenient product
DeleteI, too, keep cans of evaporated milk on hand for emergencies (usually earthquake related, but, I stocked up during the pandemic, too, to substitute for milk). It is an essential ingredient when making pumpkin pie, too. :)
ReplyDeleteDo you make your pumpkin pie with a CAN of puree, I wonder, or do you hollow out a fruit yourself?
DeleteI've made them both ways; canned pumpkin puree is much easier!
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