8 hours ago
2
Condensed milk continues to hold sway in the C8 inbox, but it must end. Today is the last day, so, with one mighty shove to empty the coffers, C8 offers the final suck of the tin.
Bob Doepel of Greenway (ACT) remembers, “To be in possession of a can of condensed milk at boarding school in the 1950s was to hold power. Having a tin of Milo as well was to be all powerful. One could make deals that would make Donald Trump blush.” C8 wonders about the state of any remaining teeth from that school.
A more adult use of the elixir comes from Walter Cleveland of Mosman with, “Some years ago a mate of mine did a winter stint in Antarctica. The bedtime regime was to have night cap known as “Mothers Milk”, half a cup of condensed milk and a good slug of OP navy rum, topped up with hot water.”
Also, a number of alert Col8ers are concerned that the discussion about condensed milk in cans is overlooking the delights of the tube. Graham Carter of Eglinton, on the northern edge of Perth, says “In the late sixties our bushwalking group would usually have a tube of condensed milk: easy to carry, could be sucked on as we walked, great in coffee over the fire at night, and could be re-capped to avoid spillages from cans. The tubes were about the size of large toothpaste tubes and certainly not to be confused with them. Do bush-walkers still use them?”
Seppo Ranki of Glenhaven adds, “Having grown up in two countries on farms with milking cows and drinking wholesome milk fresh from the cows, I never developed a taste for condensed milk. However, I remember lots of boys at school cadet camps sucking condensed milk from what looked like toothpaste tubes. It only occurred to me years later that they had never been properly weaned.”
Then, talk of condensed milk in any packaging sent Lyn Langtry of East Ryde to her recipe collection book, begun in the 1970s. “There were two leaflets issued by Carnation for their evaporated milk. Everything from sweet ‘n’ savoury meatloaf to jelly whip parfaits. How good it all tasted at the time.”
Of course, there are always dissenters. Pasquale Vartuli of Wahroonga pooh-poohs condensed milk. “While I was in the bush with the Sydney University Regiment, we would often have baby food jars (apple purée was a favourite) to supplement our rations.”
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