What's the Difference Between Sweetened Condensed Milk and Evaporated Milk?

I love sweetened condensed milk in my coffee, or is that evaporated milk? I can't tell them apart! In fact, I had to buy both products to find out which I prefer in my coffee in the first place, because without tasting them each I can't tell them apart at all! So, what's the difference between evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk, and can they each be used for the same things?

Here's the deal- sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk do have something in common- they both have a ton of water taken out of them to make them thicker in consistency than normal milk. 60% of the water in sweetened condensed and evaporated milk is removed to make each syrupy product. So, what's the difference between the two? How come the two milk products aren't the same thing?

Sugar makes the difference. Evaporated milk is simply milk with 60% of the water taken out; it would more appropriately be called 'concentrated' milk, but 'evaporated' stands for all the water that is evaporated out of it. There is no sugar added to evaporated milk, whereas sweetened condensed milk is just evaporated milk with 40% sugar in it (or about a cup and a half of sugar). For this reason, no, you cannot use each milk product for the same thing. If you need evaporated milk, using sweetened condensed milk will make the product too sweet, and the opposite will occur if you use evaporated milk when the other is called for in a recipe.

However, if you add about a cup of sugar to a can of evaporated milk, you can make your own sweetened condensed milk if you bought the wrong one for baking by accident (like I did for my coffee). Since sweetened condensed milk is just evaporated milk with sugar, then you can make your own sweetened condensed milk. As a bonus, you can lessen the sugar content if you make it yourself, saving calories! That's what I do- I add a half cup sugar to my evaporated milk can to use in my coffee so I can have that milky goodness without feeling guilty about it.

I found out how to make half-and-half, too- it's just equal parts whole milk and cream, so mix heavy cream and whole milk together to make your own half-and-half! This is especially great to do when you are trying to eat healthier and cook with heavy cream at the same time, you can dilute it and still have amazing flavor. Plus, heavy cream is pricey, you don't have to tell me twice to water it down with milk- I always wondered why my sister does this in her alfredo recipes. Now I know!

Source:

some Betty Crocker baking substitution chart in one of my grandma's cookbooks (torn out of the book)