Cream: Products

Cream is a comparatively rich emulsion of milk fat. Cream and cream products have a variety of compositions and are mostly defined according to fat content, which ranges from 10 to more than 50%. To date, the traditional classes of cream products in different countries have not been made uniform. The two main quality parameters of flow-sterilized coffee cream (≥10% fat) are sufficient emulsion stability during shelf life and good coffee stability, that is, a high degree of resistance against ‘feathering’ in hot coffee solutions. Whipping of traditionally pasteurized whipping cream (≥30% fat) is largely unproblematic. This highly dynamic process results in a partly coalesced fat globule network, which stabilizes the air bubbles, traps the serum phase, and forms the characteristic texture. Ultrahigh-temperature whipping cream with a shelf life of about 3 months is susceptible to a short-lived warming up (30–35 °C), which may result in a distinct thickening (‘rebodying’) after subsequent cooling. Cultured or sour creams belong to a diverse group of fermented products. Cream is also used as an essential ingredient in products such as ice cream and cream liqueur. The cream liqueurs that are commercially available (about 16% milk fat and 17% alcohol by volume) have typical shelf lives of several years.