CHAPTER XII 

 CONDENSED AND POWDERED MILK 



FLUID milk is bulky and expensive to transport, and under 

 normal conditions its life for direct consumption is not more 

 than two or three days. These factors very greatly limit its 

 use as human food. It is chiefly for the purpose of overcoming 

 these difficulties that milk is condensed or made into milk flour. 

 The removal of a large percentage of the water greatly reduces 

 the cost of transportation per unit of value, and the concentra- 

 tion of the solids ; the addition of sugar or the sterilization of 

 the finished product increases its keeping quality to several 

 weeks or even months. This makes it possible to use these 

 milk products under conditions which would make the use of 

 fluid milk impossible. 



The condensed-milk industry in America began with the 

 invention of Gail Borden, who " found 1 a way of extracting 

 seventy-five per cent of the water, and then added a quantity 

 of pure granulated sugar to the residue, which preserved its 

 sweetness, and the result was the 'condensed milk' known 

 by the inventor's name through the world. Although he made 

 application for a patent in 1853, it was three years before it 

 was granted, his claim that the method of ' evaporation by 

 means of a certain vacuum ' was the important point of the 

 discovery, being disputed by the patent office." Mr. Borden 

 was finally able to convince the patent office of the usefulness 

 of his invention and a patent was granted August 19, 1856. 



1 National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. 

 452 



