Sweetened condensed milk is everywhere. There may be one or two cans hidden in your cupboard. It is the key to lime pie; it brings sweetness to Vietnamese coffee; last month it went to Rio in the form of brigadeiros to participate in the carnival, a bite-sized milk jelly ball served by Brazilian nationals.

But Victoria Belanger, a photographer, also known as the jelly mold mistress of Brooklyn, may have a unique relationship with these things.

"Sweetened condensed milk has solved a lot of problems for me," said Ms. Beranger, who brought her professional understanding of light and color to the ongoing jelly dessert experiment. "Now I can make opaque layers to set off the clear, bright layers."

Every few weeks, how many of her 30 molds does Ms. Belanger fill? ? Shaped like fish, rose and starfish? ? Use a mixture of condensed milk and gelatin. She is attracted by imported and homemade flavors such as mango or caramel caramel or milk chocolate-macadamia. She demoulded these shapes, photographed them while they still had a smooth luster, and then fed them to friends and neighbors. "Condensed milk makes it more like pudding and more satisfying," she said. "I tried Cool Whip and vanilla ice cream, but only condensed milk can make it very smooth."

Sweetened condensed milk and its unsweetened cousin, evaporated milk, have never been favored by food snobs. "Initially, these were marketed as nutritional solutions, not luxury ingredients," said Anne Mendelson, a food historian and author of "Milk: The Amazing Stories of Milk Through Ages." She said that fresh milk and cream have always been favored by American consumers, and shelf-stable products are seen as inferior substitutes, if they are useful.

Alex Stupak, the pastry chef of WD-50 in the Lower East Side, said: “It may not be popular because it is in a can.” Sweetened condensed milk. "This is a righteous emulsifier," he said. At Momofuku Milk Bar, chef Christina Tosi uses it to smooth soft ice creams such as peach cream and cherry jubilee.

As more and more American home chefs from Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean join the national culinary world, condensed milk is becoming more and more popular. "Try to tell anyone in Latin America that canned milk is not real milk," Ms. Mendelson said. "There will be a battle in your hands."

In the Philippines, it is topped with halo-halo, a popular dessert made up of shaved ice, coconut and various toppings; in Jamaica, it is mixed with dark beer, sherry and nutmeg to create a rich creamy flavor. The Hong Kong-style "French Toast" is served in the cafe there. It is toasted white bread glazed with condensed milk and peanut butter; it is a key ingredient in Thai iced tea and Vietnamese coffee; Brazilian chefs whipped it with avocado to make gorgeous light Green desserts, such as pudim de abacate.

In these regions, dairy products can be difficult, expensive or unconventional to make. The stability and reliable sweetness of condensed milk have won many fans for it. "It's hard to explain how people relate to it in Latin America," said Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, a Connecticut culinary teacher who grew up in Rio de Janeiro. "Leite moça came when life was difficult and there was not much hospitality," she said, using the Brazilian terminology, which means "lady's milk." This is a reference to the Swiss milkmaid, on the canned Nestle condensed milk. The Nestlé condensed milk was introduced in Brazil in 2017 in 1921.

It is one of the three types of milk in Mexican tres leches cakes, which can be caramelized directly in a tin to make dulce de leche. (Place the pot in the pot and cook for three hours; cover the pot with boiling water, otherwise it will overheat and explode.)

Sweetened condensed milk entered the American market in 1856 and was the brainchild of long-time culinary inventor Gail Borden. (He has applied for a patent for a prototype of a complete nutrition bar, which he called "meatloaf".) After a series of "swill milk" scandals exposed the true ingredients of most milk, Mr. Boden began experimenting with sterilized milk Then sold in American cities: chalk powder, molasses and pests.

His process? ? The combination of vacuum pressure, calories and sugar? ? The dairy products produced are almost indestructible and have a shelf life of several years. Mr. Boden made a fortune by providing condensed milk to the Union Army during the Civil War. It was airlifted to Berlin in the 1940s and recently opened up to Asia as the main market for American milk.

“We grew up with it,” said Kathy Wong, the owner of Laut Restaurant, which is one of the few places in New York that serves real Malaysian tea or teh tarik. Is it strong tea? ? The best is the Boh brand grown in the cool Cameron Highlands north of Kuala Lumpur? And condensed milk. (You can add freshly squeezed ginger juice to make teh halia, reminiscent of Indian chai.) Pour the mixture vigorously back and forth from one pot to another: this is the process of "pulling", it makes the drink smooth and smooth. Give it a foam top. "The higher the pour, the thicker the top," her partner Camie Lai said. Among those who see cooking as an ongoing scientific experiment or craft project, can condensed milk complete the combination of milk, sugar and eggs? ? And can usually represent all three.

Jessica P Lin has a blog, ecuriouseateries.blogspot.com, where she posts recipes and restaurant reviews, and has long been tinkering with ice cream recipes that do not require an ice cream machine. "At the time, I was a culinary student, but my family only had a $10 hand blender," said Ms. Lin, who grew up in Dallas and now lives in New York. She often goes to Taiwan, where her parents were born, where condensed milk is a popular ingredient for desserts or bread.

Ms. Lin said that she finally thought of the idea of ​​whipping the condensed milk she had always carried with her into thick cream. "I basically want to be lazy and avoid making custard," she said. As a result, it only takes a few minutes to enter the refrigerator.

The chemical composition of condensed milk is very different from fresh, and has a corresponding effect. It does not coagulate in the presence of sourness, just like regular milk (that's why it is used for lime pie). The sugar crystals in condensed milk do not clump and harden (this is called lumps), so it can be used to make sweets such as gummy candies.

"All candies are made to prevent crystallization," said Michael Chu, an engineer in Austin, Texas, who wrote his kitchen experiment online at Cooking for Engineers. Mr. Zhu’s chocolate fudge recipe, which he calls "very simple", has a pleasant cake-like texture, almost the sandy texture expected for fudge, which may be difficult to achieve with milk and butter. He used condensed milk to reduce the ingredients in the fudge to only three (salt is optional) and eliminated the terrible step of boiling the syrup to the softball stage. "The manufacturing process has already done this for you," he said.

Fudge made from condensed milk is the basis of brigadeiros, a bite-sized candy decorated with paper and sprinkled with sugar shavings. "Brigadeiros are like Brazilian cupcakes," Ms. Morinos Schwartz said. "They are at every birthday party." (They are named after the once popular politician Brigadier General Eduardo Gomez, whose slogan when he ran for president in 1945 was "Don't elect the brigade commander, que é bonito e é solteiro"???.")

Once, Ms. Morinos Schwartz said, would it be weird to entertain travel companions at an adult dinner party? ? "It was originally a French chocolate mousse"? ? But now Brazilian chefs like her are embracing their own traditions. In her new book "Brazilian Kitchen", she uses unsweetened coconut, pistachio jam and real chocolate sauce to change the classic, tooth-ache recipe. "Now when I go home, the brigadier's taste is too sweet," she said sadly. "I think, guys, come on! You are killing jellybeans!"