How Do You Get Heavy Cream?
Heavy cream is obtained through a process of separating the fat from milk using a centrifuge. This machine spins the milk at high speed, causing the fat globules to rise to the top, forming the heavy cream. The remaining liquid is skim milk.
Dairies utilize a process called centrifugation to produce heavy cream. This involves:
- Pasteurization: Milk is first pasteurized to eliminate harmful bacteria.
- Separation: The pasteurized milk is then passed through a fat separator (centrifuge). The high speed spinning separates the cream (higher fat content) from the skim milk (lower fat content).
This method is the standard industrial process for creating heavy cream.
Homemade Heavy Cream Alternatives (Not True Heavy Cream)
While you can't truly make heavy cream from scratch using only milk and butter, some methods attempt to mimic its properties. These techniques should not be considered substitutes for commercial heavy cream in terms of composition or texture:
- Adding butter and milk: Some recipes suggest heating butter and milk, then cooling. This creates a creamier consistency than milk alone, but the resulting product differs chemically and in fat content from true heavy cream. It may be suitable for some applications, but it's not identical to store-bought heavy cream.
- Using a cream separator: A vintage cream separator can be used to manually separate fat from raw milk, allowing for the collection of cream from the top layer. However, this is a time-consuming process.
It's important to note that these homemade methods do not yield the same composition and fat percentage as commercially produced heavy cream.
Key Differences: Heavy Cream vs. Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are essentially the same product. The difference lies primarily in branding and marketing; some companies label it one way, while others use a different term. Both contain approximately 36% milkfat.
