Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators". In many countries, it is sold in several grades depending on the total butterfat content. It can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets, and contains high levels of saturated fat.
Cream skimmed from milk may be called "sweet cream" to distinguish it from cream skimmed from whey, a by-product of cheese-making. Whey cream has a lower fat content and tastes more salty, tangy and "cheesy". In many countries, cream is usually sold partially fermented: sour cream, crème fraîche, and so on. Both forms have many culinary uses in sweet, bitter, salty and tangy dishes.
Cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture often contains some natural carotenoid pigments derived from the plants they eat; this gives it a slightly yellow tone, hence the name of the yellowish-white color: cream. This is also the origin of butter's yellow color. Cream from goat's milk, water buffalo milk, or from cows fed indoors on grain or grain-based pellets, is white.
Cuisine
Cream is used as an ingredient in many foods, including ice cream, many sauces, soups, stews, puddings, and some custard bases, and is also used for cakes. Whipped cream is served as a topping on ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, lassi, eggnog, sweet pies, strawberries, blueberries or peaches. Irish cream is an alcoholic liqueur which blends cream with whiskey, and often honey, wine, or coffee. Cream is also used in Indian curries such as masala dishes.Cream is often added to coffee in the US and Canada.
Both single and double cream can be used in cooking. Double cream or full-fat crème fraîche are often used when cream is added to a hot sauce, to prevent any problem with it separating or "splitting". Double cream can be thinned with milk to make an approximation of single cream.
The French word crème denotes not only dairy cream, but also other thick liquids such as sweet and savory custards, which are normally made with milk, not cream.
Types
Different grades of cream are distinguished by their fat content, whether they have been heat-treated, whipped, and so on. In many jurisdictions, there are regulations for each type.Australia and New Zealand
The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 2.5.2 – Defines cream as a milk product comparatively rich in fat, in the form of an emulsion of fat-in-skim milk, which can be obtained by separation from milk. Cream must contain no less than 350 g/kg milk fat.Manufacturers labels may distinguish between different fat contents, a general guideline is as follows:
| Name | Fat Content | Main Uses |
| Extra light | 12–12.5% | |
| Light | 18–20% | |
| Thickened Cream | 35–36.5% | with added gelatine and/or other thickeners to give the cream a creamier texture, also possibly with stabilizers to aid the consistency of whipped cream |
| Single Cream | ~ 35% | Recipes calling for 'single cream' are referring to pure or thickened cream with about 35% fat. |
| Double Cream | 48–60% |
Canada
Canadian cream definitions are similar to those used in the United States, except for "light cream", which is very low-fat cream, usually with 5 or 6 percent butterfat. Specific product characteristics are generally uniform throughout Canada, but names vary by both geographic and linguistic area and by manufacturer: "coffee cream" may be 10 or 18 percent cream and "half-and-half" may be 3, 5, 6 or 10 percent, all depending on location and brand.Regulations allow cream to contain acidity regulators and stabilizers. For whipping cream, allowed additives include skim milk powder, glucose solids, calcium sulphate, and xanthan gum. The content of milk fat in canned cream must be displayed as a percentage followed by "milk fat", "B.F", or "M.F".
| Name | Minimum milk fat | Additional definition | Main uses |
| Manufacturing cream | 40% | Crème fraîche is also 40–45% but is an acidified cultured product rather than sweet cream. | Commercial production. |
| Whipping cream | 33–36% | Also as cooking or "thick" cream 35% with added stabilizers. Heavy cream must be at least 36%. In Francophone areas: crème à fouetter 35%; and for cooking, crème à cuisson 35%, crème à l'ancienne 35% or crème épaisse 35%. | Whips into a creamy and smooth topping that is used for pastries, fresh fruits, desserts, hot cocoa, etc. Cooking version is formulated to resist breaking when heated. |
| Table cream | 15–18% | Coffee cream. Also as cooking or "thick" cream 15% with added stabilizers. In Francophone areas: crème de table 15% or crème à café 18%; and for cooking, crème champêtre 15%, crème campagnarde 15% or crème épaisse 15%. | Added as rich whitener to coffee. Ideal for soups, sauces and veloutés. Garnishing fruit and desserts. Cooking version is formulated to resist breaking when heated. |
| Half and half | 10% | Cereal cream. Product with the most butterfat in the light cream category. In Francophone areas: crème à café 10% and sometimes crème légère 10%. | Poured over hot cereal as a garnish. Ideal in sauces for vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, and pasta. Also in cream soups. |
| Light cream | 3–10% | Light cream 6%. In Francophone areas: mélange de lait et de crème pour café 5%, Crémette™ 5% or crème légère 3% to 10%. A mixture of milk and cream. | 5% product is similar to the richest Guernsey or Jersey milk. A lower fat alternative to table cream in coffee. |
France
In France, the use of the term "cream" for food products is defined by the decree 80-313 of April 23, 1980. It specifies the minimum rate of milk fat as well as the rules for pasteurisation or UHT sterilisation. The mention "crème fraîche" can only be used for pasteurised creams conditioned on production site within 24h after pasteurisation. Even if food additives complying with French and European laws are allowed, usually, none will be found in plain "crèmes" and "crèmes fraîches" apart from lactic ferments. Fat content is commonly shown as "XX% M.G.".Russia
Russia, as well as other EAC countries, legally separates cream into two classes: normal and heavy, but the industry has pretty much standardized around the following types:| English | Russian | Transliteration | Milk fat |
| Low-fat or drinking cream | Нежирные сливки | Nezhirnÿe slivki | 10% |
| Cream | Сливки | Slivki | 15% or 20% |
| Whipping cream | Сливки для взбивания | Slivki dlya vzbivaniya | 33% or 35% |
| Double cream | Двойные сливки | Dvoinÿe slivki | 48% |
Sweden
In Sweden, cream is usually sold as:- Matlagningsgrädde, 10–15 %
- Kaffegrädde, 10-12 %, earlier mostly 12 %
- Vispgrädde, 36–40 %, the 36 % variant often has additives.
Gräddfil and Creme Fraiche are two common sour cream products.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the types of cream are legally defined as follows:| English | German | French | Italian | Typical milk fat wt% | Minimum milk fat wt% |
| Double cream | Doppelrahm | double-crème | doppia panna | 45% | 45% |
| Full cream Whipping cream Cream | Vollrahm Schlagrahm Rahm Sahne | crème entière crème à fouetter crème | panna intera panna da montare panna | 35% | 35% |
| Half cream | Halbrahm | demi-crème | mezza panna | 25% | 15% |
| Coffee cream | Kaffeerahm | crème à café | panna da caffè | 15% | 15% |
Sour cream and crème fraîche are defined as cream soured by bacterial cultures.
Thick cream is defined as cream thickened using thickening agents.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the types of cream are legally defined as follows:| Name | Minimum milk fat | Additional definition | Main uses |
| Clotted cream | 55% | is heat-treated | Spooned, or spread like butter. A traditional part of a cream tea. |
| Extra-thick double cream | 48% | is heat-treated then quickly cooled | Thickest available fresh cream, spooned onto pies, puddings, and desserts |
| Double cream | 48% | Whips easily and thickest for puddings and desserts, can be piped once whipped | |
| Whipping cream | 35% | Whips well but lighter, can be piped once whipped | |
| Whipped cream | 35% | has been whipped | Decorations on cakes, topping for ice cream, fruit and so on. |
| Sterilized cream | 23% | is sterilized | |
| Cream or single cream | 18% | is not sterilized | Poured over puddings, used in sauces and added to coffee. |
| Sterilized half cream | 12% | is sterilized | |
| Half cream | Uncommon, some cocktails |
United States
In the United States, cream is usually sold as:| Name | Fat content | Main uses |
| Half and Half | >=10.5%, <18% | To whiten coffee and tea. |
| Light cream | >=18%, <30% | Also called "table cream" or "coffee" cream. An old style product for whitening coffee and also as an enriching ingredient in sauces and other recipes |
| Whipping cream | >=30%, <36% | Generally 33%. Used in sauces and soups and as a pourable or whipped garnish. Whipping will only attain soft peaks. Some products labeled "whipping cream" contain small amounts of gelatin as an added stabilizer for improved whipping. |
| Heavy cream | >=36% | For whipping when small stable peaks are desired. Also used as a luxurious pourable garnish on fresh fruit and hot cereals. |
| Manufacturer's cream | >=40% | Used in commercial and professional production applications. Not generally available at retail until recently. |
Most cream products sold in the United States at retail contain the minimum permissible fat content for their product type, e.g., "Half and half" almost always contains only 10.5% butterfat.
Not all grades are defined by all jurisdictions, and the exact fat content ranges vary. The above figures, except for "manufacturer's cream", are based on the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Part 131
Processing and additives
Cream may have thickening agents and stabilizers added. Thickeners include sodium alginate, carrageenan, gelatine, sodium bicarbonate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, and alginic acid.Other processing may be carried out. For example, cream has a tendency to produce oily globules when added to coffee. The stability of the cream may be increased by increasing the non-fat solids content, which can be done by partial demineralisation and addition of sodium caseinate, although this is expensive.
Other cream products
by churning cream to separate the butterfat and buttermilk. This can be done by hand or by machine.Whipped cream is made by whisking or mixing air into cream with more than 30% fat, to turn the liquid cream into a soft solid. Nitrous oxide, from whipped-cream chargers may also be used to make whipped cream.
Sour cream, common in many countries including the U.S., Canada and Australia, is cream that has been subjected to a bacterial culture that produces lactic acid, which sours and thickens it.
Crème fraîche is slightly soured with bacterial culture, but not as sour or as thick as sour cream. Mexican crema is similar to crème fraîche.
Smetana is a heavy cream derived Central and Eastern European sweet or sour cream.
Rjome or rømme is Norwegian sour cream containing 35% milk fat, similar to Icelandic sýrður rjómi.
Clotted cream, common in the United Kingdom, is made through a process that starts by slowly heating whole milk to produce a very high-fat product. This is similar to Indian malai.
Reduced cream is a cream product used in New Zealand to make Kiwi dip.
Other items called "cream"
Some non-edible substances are called creams due to their consistency: shoe cream is runny, unlike regular waxy shoe polish; hand/body 'creme' or "skin cream" is meant for moisturizing the skin.Regulations in many jurisdictions restrict the use of the word cream for foods. Words such as creme, kreme, creame, or whipped topping are often used for products which cannot legally be called cream, though in some jurisdictions even these spellings may be disallowed, for example under the doctrine of idem sonans. Oreo and Hydrox cookies are a type of sandwich cookie in which two biscuits have a soft, sweet filling between them that is called "crème filling." In some cases, foods can be described as cream although they do not contain predominantly milk fats; for example in Britain "ice cream" does not have to be a dairy product, and salad cream is the customary name for a condiment that has been produced since the 1920s.
In other languages, cognates of "cream" are also sometimes used for non-food products, such as , or .