Jeremy Herndon Blog

Have you ever even heard of “shelf stable milk?”  I hadn’t until I ordered a box of food from Angel Food Ministries.  Part of their basic box of food includes a small carton of “shelf stable milk.”  It is real 2% milk that is sealed in a wax type of container that does not need to be refrigerated until it is opened.  The expiration date on it is many months away; it keeps just fine until opened.  Puts me in mind of the canned sweetened and/or condensed evaporated milk. 

My grandparents tell me that during the “Great Depression” they would buy canned condensed evaporated milk because it was inexpensive and did not need to be refrigerated.  They told me that they didn’t even refrigerate it after opening it, they would just put it on the kitchen counter and cover the opening with foil to keep bugs out.  I don’t know what the “safety rules” are for refrigerating canned condensed evaporated milk, but seems to me that it should be refrigerated after opening.  What do you think?