behind AotW

Canned condensed milk under the Eagle brand was first offered in 1856 by Gail Borden as answer to lack of refrigeration or other effective means to preserve whole milk. It was sold in large quantities during the Civil War, which made Borden a famous name [borden history]. As early as 1861 the US Army was buying it for the troops.

So the cooking technique I’m going to show you–and the resulting magic elixir–may have been available to soldiers at Antietam in 1862.

Or not …

My friend Mike sold me on the idea of boiling a can of the sweetened condensed milk you can still buy today, and promised a pudding-like treat would result. I thought I remembered something like this from when I was very small, so what the heck, I gave it a try.

the Can

Caution: the label instructions expressly warn you not to heat an unopened can. Please do not actually do this. It’s not safe. Enough said.

Preparation was easy: I submerged the unopened can in enough boiling water to cover it, and kept on the boil for 50 minutes. Removed can from heat. Cooled overnight in the refrigerator.

the Can, opened after cooling

When opened, the can revealed a golden nectar the consistency of honey, though creamier: a goop of thicker viscosity but with texture of melted butter. No, not quite that either.

My descriptions are feeble. But pudding this wasn’t. More like caramel ice cream topping .

the goop in a bowl

And caramel is essentially what it tastes like. Except that caramel pales in comparison. This stuff is tremendously rich. Overwhelming to the taste buds. A very small amount will go a very long way.

I lapped-up about a quarter-cup as seen here. That was enough of the straight stuff alone.

I’ve since used it as a topping: it’s was perfect over butter-pecan ice cream. It also makes the most fantastic desert drink when added liberally to very strong coffee. I wonder how espresso would work …

There was still plenty of daylight left as I was returning from Sharpsburg last weekend, so I took a rare detour from Alt-40 over to Fox’s Gap.

The glorious charge of the 23rd and 12th Ohio Volunteers …(1864, Library of Congress)

There are a pair of interpretive signs, two monuments, and a regimental tribute at the spot where the road crosses the Gap, noting the combat there on 14 September 1862. But that’s all there is to see as one arrives.

There was no one else there when I pulled up. It was blessedly quiet. I took a couple of snapshots to bring some of the place home with me.

Or: another great day on the battlefield.

I was glad to be part of a small group of SHAF volunteers and Park Natural Resources guys planting tree seedlings along Antietam Creek yesterday.

It was in a part of the Park I’d never visited before: a strip of low land along the west side of the stream running north from where the Burnside Bridge Road crosses about one-quarter mile above Burnside Bridge.

A new forest of green tubes (looking northeast, creek to the right)

A larger team of about 35 people had been nearby planting the weekend before, during the Park Work Day. Between us, then, we’d planted hackberry, tulip poplar, and maple (others?) three and four deep along a half-mile of creek bank. These are all native species likely to do well in that location.

These trees and the grassy field adjacent will form a riparian buffer to protect the stream and its banks. The seedlings themselves are protected and nurtured by those ‘greenhouse’ sleeves and stakes.

view back across Antietam Creek from west bank

On the afternoon of 17 September 1862 this ground was the province of the troops of Colonel Benjamin Christ‘s Brigade (First Brigade, First Division) of the Federal Ninth Corps.

They had crossed the stone bridge to the west bank about 2pm and followed it north to this meadow. About 3pm they formed in line of battle here preparatory to advancing toward the town of Sharpsburg [map]. In order south to north (l to r) , behind the 79th New York Infantry as skirmishers, these were the 17th Michigan, 28th Massachusetts, and Christ’s own 50th Pennsylvania regiments.

bluff west of Antietam Creek, north of bridge road

With their backs to the creek, they faced a stiff climb up that steep slope.

… after the formation of the Corps line, the Brigade advanced, under a heavy fire from Cemetery Hill and the high ground west of the road, to within a few yards of this point where it was checked. After a short delay the 79th New York advanced as skirmishers and compelled the Confederate Artillery to retire. The Brigade was about to move forward, when the attack of A.P. Hill on the left of the Corps obliged it to fall back to the Antietam …
(from War Department tablet no. 63 [map])

____________

Thanks to Tom Clemens and SHAF for sponsoring the planting, the Natural Resource Rangers for doing what they always do: take such fine care of our Park, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) for the young trees, and to the other volunteers for getting muddy with me.
____________

For related photos–including one of Christ’s Brigade’s tablet–see a lovely page from Tom Shay created on the 100th anniversary of the raising of the monuments to 48th and 50th Pennsylvania regiments at Antietam in 2004.