ranges in richness from British ‘top of bottle’, which contains barely more fat than milk itself, to double cream, which is almost half fat. Examples of the fat contents of different grades in Britain and the USA are: ‘half and half’ cream 10–12%; British single cream 20%; US medium cream 25%; whipping cream 35%; and British double cream 48%.
In France the term crème has a wider meaning. However, so far as the narrower sense is concerned, French official regulations define only two kinds of crème, crème fraîche (often referred to as just crème, but it is not ‘just cream’ in the English sense, being lightly fermented) and crème légère. The former must contain at least 30 grams of fat per 100 grams: the latter need only have 12. However, although these are the only categories with legal standing, other terms are used. Crème épaisse (or crème double) will have a fat content higher than the minimum prescribed for crème fraîche, but its thicker consistency may also be due to loss of water content, and it is usually more acid, having been allowed to ripen. Crème fluide has a fat content of around 35% and has not ripened; it is used for whipping (see below). Crème à café, a light cream with a 15% fat content, is what the Swiss use for the purpose indicated by its name.
Cream separates naturally from unhomogenized milk, in which the fat globules are just too large to remain suspended in the emulsion. Being lighter than water, they slowly collect at the top. The old method of collecting cream was to leave milk, unrefrigerated, in a broad earthenware pan until the cream had separated to the required extent: up to 12 hours for single cream and 24 for double. It was then skimmed off. During this time, lactic acid-producing bacteria were active in the milk and the cream, ‘ripening’ them and developing a creamy taste by converting lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid and citrates to diacetyl. The cream, any butter made from it, and the remaining skimmed milk all have this pleasant, slightly sour flavour.
Nowadays cream is separated mechanically in a centrifuge, a revolving circular vessel in which the cream migrates to the centre, from which it is drawn off. Any degree of extraction, even separating double cream from the thinnest milk, can be obtained in a few minutes. Consequently the cream has no chance to ripen; and since what is sold as ‘fresh’ cream must be promptly pasteurized to kill almost all the bacteria in it, modern cream does not have much flavour. (Batches of cream to be made into butter and sour cream are treated differently. They are inoculated with starter cultures of chosen bacteria.)
Bottled, canned, and UHT (‘ultra high temperature’) cream are subjected to treatment similar to that for sterilized or UHT milk. A slightly ‘cooked’ flavour results.
Whipped cream adds a touch of luxury to almost any dessert and is essential for certain sweet confections such as ice cream sundaes. When cream is whipped, the mechanical action introduces air bubbles into it. These are stabilized by the fat globules in the cream clumping at the air–liquid interface all around each bubble. The clumps of globules are stabilized by a coating of protein molecules (see emulsions). To whip properly, cream has to have a reasonably high fat content: at least 30%, and 40% gives a lighter foam. Whipping cream is intermediate in fat content between British single and double cream. The clumping of the fat globules, and thus the successful whipping of the cream, is aided if the viscosity of the fat is increased by chilling the cream (to below 10 °C/50 °F—and chill the bowl and whisk too).
Whipped cream will not retain its airy bulk for long without assistance. When used as a topping for a trifle, for example, it can be stabilized by adding egg whites, one to every 125 ml or 5 fl oz. of cream. Mousses and cold soufflés using cream include either egg whites or gelatin to hold up the fragile foam.
In France, crème Chantilly is a common feature of desserts. It is simply whipped cream which has been sweetened with sugar and flavoured with (usually) vanilla. Use of the name Chantilly (from the 1840s) may have arisen because the famous Château there had become a symbol of refined food, of which crème Chantilly is a fine example.
In cooking with cream, the main problem is that it curdles (see curdling) far more easily than milk.
Clotted cream, regarded by the inhabitants of Devon and Cornwall, where it is chiefly made, as an exclusively English product, is in fact a close relation of the Near Eastern kaymak etc.; and it has been suggested that Phoenician traders, who came to Cornwall more than 2,000 years ago in search of tin, may have introduced there the Near Eastern technique for making it. The traditional West Country method is to put milk in shallow pans until the cream has risen (12 hours in summer, 24 in winter), then heat the whole to about 82 °C (180 °F), keep it there for half an hour, and allow it to cool overnight. Clotted cream made in factories is produced more quickly by what is called ‘direct scalding’. Clotted cream has a distinctive ‘cooked’ taste, keeps for much longer than ordinary cream, and is too thick (at about 60% fat content) to pour.
The south-west of England is also the home territory of cream teas (see afternoon tea).
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
