Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Cracking the "Whip" on Heavy Cream

A friend & I were embarking on a little baking adventure when she asked me if I knew the difference between heavy cream & heavy whipping cream.  Great question!  Why do some recipes call for heavy cream & some for heavy whipping cream?  Do they react differently?  Do they taste different?  What exactly is the difference between the 2?

To start off with the basics, cream is the yellow'ish fatty layer that lies on the surface of raw milk before homogenization [1].  There are 8 types of commonly used cream & they are classified by their butterfat content which then defines how well a cream can be whipped & how stable it is [2].

So what are heavy cream & heavy whipping cream?  In the United States, both heavy cream & heavy whipping cream are creams with a butterfat content between 36%-40% [3]. The main difference is that heavy whipping cream contains small amounts of stabilizers & emulsifiers.  Why?

Before the invention of heavy whipping cream, chefs (& probably home cooks too) would try to whip up plain heavy cream only to have it end up curdled because the cream & the utensils weren't cold enough.  To make things easier for the consumers, manufacturers added in small quantities of Monoglyceride, Diglyceride, Polysorbate 80, & Carrageenan - thereby creating the "whipping" aspect - so the cream can be whipped up more quickly & at slightly lower temperatures [4].  This industrialization process not only made heavy cream easier to use, but the increased stability also meant giving the product a longer shelf life (also reduced production cost & greater profit margins for manufacturers; but that's a different blog post all together).

While we are @ it, let's clear 1 more thing up: what is whipping cream?  Not heavy, not light, just whipping.  Well, as you might have guessed it by now, it has something to do with the butterfat content.  In the United States (I guess different countries have different standards), regular whipping cream is a cream that has a butterfat content of 30% [3].

So there, mystery solved: heavy whipping cream is simply heavy cream + chemicals.  According to my research, almost all grocery stores nowadays sell only heavy whipping cream (even if it is not named as such); so for those of you out there who are trying to move away from processed foods, I strongly suggest skimming the ingredients lists before making a purchase or maybe even consider venturing to farmers' markets or diary farms to find natural heavy cream (just make sure it's not raw please!).





















References:
[1] "Cream." Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream>.
[2] "Types of Cream - Definitions of Cream - What is Cream?" What's Cooking America
      <http://whatscookingamerica.net/Sauces_Condiments/CreamDefinitions.htm>.
[3] "Cream." Joy of Baking. <http://www.joyofbaking.com/Cream.html>.
[4] "Heavy Cream Vs. Heavy Whipping Cream." 5 min: Life Videopedia.
      < http://www.5min.com/Video/Heavy-Cream-Vs-Heavy-Whipping-Cream-517142420>.

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