Gail Borden Jr: Father of the process of milk condensing

Condensed milk has 60% of the water removed and sucrose added to produce a product with a total carbohydrate concentration of 56%. Nicolas Appert condensed milk in France in 1820, and Gail Borden Jr. did the same in the United States in 1853, in reaction to the difficulty of storing fresh milk for more than a few hours.

The basic process for preservation of unsweetened condensed milk by heat sterilization was conceived by John B. Meyenberg in 1882, a Swiss citizen, and an employee of the Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Company.

Gail Borden (November 9, 1801 – January 11, 1874), surveyor and inventor, New York-born began experimenting in 1849 with a condensed-beef-broth and-flour concoction that he called a meat biscuit. It was a pemmican-like food that could be taken into the field or on long trips without spoiling.

While returning from a trip to England in 1851, Borden was devastated by the death of several of his children, apparently from poor quality milk obtained from shipboard cows. Borden wondered how milk could be processed and packaged so that it would not go bad. This was a problem not only on long ocean voyages but on land, as well, because at the time, milk was shipped in unsanitary oak barrels and spoiled quickly.

During promoting his meat biscuit, Borden began to experiment with condensing a number of products, including milk, coffee, tea, and cider. Borden was inspired by the vacuum pan he had seen being used by Shakers to condense fruit juice, and he was at last able to reduce milk without scorching or curdling it.

In what proved later to be his most successful venture, he created a commercially viable method for producing condensed milk that was consistently pure and long-lasting. His condensed milk was sweetened with sugar.

Even then, his first two factories failed, and only the third, built in New York with his new partner, Jeremiah Milbank, produced a usable milk derivative that was long-lasting and needed no refrigeration.

In 1856, Gail Borden patented the evaporation of milk at reduced pressure, using the concentrate to make sweetened condensed milk.

Jeremiah Milbank, a New York financier, met Borden in 1858. They quickly became partners, founding the New York Condensed Milk Company, and sales increased markedly. In 1864, the first Eagle Brand Consolidated Milk production plant opened on the east branch of the Croton River in southeastern New York.

In 1884, John B. Meyenberg patented a process for sterilizing concentrated milk in tinned cans, which were rotated under pressurized steam, allowing for a relatively short sterilization time.
Gail Borden Jr: Father of the process of milk condensing

History of condensed milk processing

The process to evaporate and preserve milk in a sealed container was first introduced in France by Nicolas Appert.

The pharmacist Henry Nestle a German born researcher who sought an economical alternative to breastfeeding to combat infant malnutrition, began experimenting with combination 0f sugar, wheat flour, and cow’s milk in the 1860s.

In 1813, an English patent awarded to Edward Howard described a ‘vacuum pan’ in which milk boiled vigorously at a low temperature of 54.4 °C and half of the water removed.

The American, Gail Borden who concentrated milk by evaporation in a vacuum and then sold the product from open vessel like ordinary milk, was the true pioneer; he also produced a canned condensed milk which preserved by the inclusion of sugar.

The evaporated milk deteriorates as quickly as fresh milk once the can is opened. Whereas the sugar in condensed milk enables it to last longer without refrigeration.

Gail Borden had been a teacher, land surveyor, inventor, real estate salesman and editor. He went into invention the canning of condensed milk.

He researched for several years to develop concentrated milk that can be marketed. He patented condensed milk in 1856. This was the birth of the first sweetened condensed milk in hermetically sealed cans.

In fall 1861, the Commissary Department order the first 500 pounds of condensed milk from New York Condensed Milk Company for the Union Army.

By 1899 twenty-four condenseries were manufacturing condensed and evaporated milk countrywide.

In Europe, tinned milk consumption increased rapidly after the establishment of the Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Company in 1865 and an export trade emerged almost immediately.

Before that, in 1857, an English patent was granted to Joseph House for preserving unsweetened condensed milk.

By 1890 price had fallen enough to make it appeal to poorer. It became increasingly popular in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Some was produced in Britain, but a rising proportion was imported.

Sweetened condensed milk was cheaper than fresh milk if diluted to the same consistency, and of also kept longer, an important matter in houses with no cool larders.  
History of condensed milk processing