Whipped Cream

Generality and production

The whipped cream is a foamy and soft mass, relatively stable, obtained by mechanical stirring of the liquid cream.

The cream intended for assembly must have some specific chemical-physical "requirements": lipid content between 30 and 40%, integrity of the fat micelles, relatively low sanitation temperature (pasteurization), low storage temperature but not too much, close to 0 ° C (more or less "from the fridge"), acid pH NEVER and no industrial processing such as homogenization and UHT; mechanical agitation and "nature" (as they say) will do the rest. In fact, by examining the composition of cow's milk one realizes how the fat is incorporated in micelles, which are large lipid droplets wrapped in a thin protein film that keeps them in aqueous dispersion, preventing them from aggregating in large lipid complexes. During whipping cream, the same fat globules incorporate a certain amount of air that is retained by their outer protein membrane. Initially the incorporation of air is irregular and coarse: the external proteins favor the incorporation of air in the form of droplets and a film is created at the border between the air and the serum; with the continuation of the flutter the air bubbles become smaller and smaller, increasing in number; the film changes, accumulating more and more globules of fat which, by creating bridges between themselves and the air, give consistency and stability to the whipped cream. Ultimately, a system is created where the gaseous phase is predominant.

To obtain a good whipped cream, the operator's manual skills and / or the calibration of the instrument (depending on the type of processing) are also fundamental.

Types of cream

Not all cream is suitable for the production of whipped cream

There are 3 types of cream on the market, but only from one of these can you get whipped cream.

We immediately exclude the cream from the kitchen; it has a fat content that ranges from 20 to 25%, NOT MOUNT (later we will understand why) and has a semi-solid appearance, consequently to the formation of the casein gel that traps the fat globules. Sometimes, after a few months of storage, we notice a certain separation of the solid part from the liquid part which is reintegrated by mixing the compound.

Even the coffee cream is not able to froth; it has a lipid content too similar to milk, therefore insufficient (generally around 12%), and if it has undergone UHT treatment it is very stable and can be stored for a long time.

Finally we come to the whipping cream, that is the only one from which it is possible to obtain whipped cream. This has a fat intake that averages 35%, or the amount needed to make it reach up to 300% of the initial volume. If similar products are found but with lower lipid percentages (<30%), they will be decidedly less stable; on the contrary, with high doses of fat (up to 47%), these will be particularly difficult to assemble.

Limiting factors of production

If the process is not carried out in a technically unexceptionable manner (wrong time, speed, type of whisk etc.), it significantly increases the risk of obtaining the OPPOSITE foaming effect, that is to say the butter making . In summary, by excessively mounting the cream (too vigorously or for too long), the separation of the proteins from the fat globules occurs; the latter, in the absence of the peptide coating, aggregate ( coalescence ) giving rise to a solid fat mass that separates from the residual serum; the latter, once concentrated, is called butter (see the video recipe for making butter at home).

Nutritional composition of cream or milk cream - Reference values ​​of INRAN Food Composition Tables

Nutritional values ​​(per 100 g of edible portion)

Edible part 100.0% water 58, 5g Protein 2.3g Lipids TOT 35, 0g Saturated fatty acids - g Monounsaturated fatty acids - g Polyunsaturated fatty acids - g Cholesterol - mg TOT Carbohydrates 3.4 g Starch 0.0g Soluble sugars 3.4 g Dietary fiber 0.0g Power 337, 0kcal Sodium 34, 0mg Potassium 100, 0mg Iron 0, 0mg Football 78, 0mg Phosphorus 61, 0mg Thiamine 0, 02mg Riboflavin 0, 11mg Niacin - mg Vitamin A 335, 0μg C vitamin - mg Vitamin E - mg

Other factors limiting the foaming of whipped cream are homogenization, heat treatment with heat and acidification ; while the first generates a reduction in volume and the consequent dispersion of fat globules (which lose the ability to interact with proteins), the second and third cause the chemical-physical denaturation of the peptides, compromising their emulsifying capacity. NB . The acidification of whipped cream and its heating also indirectly favor the process of butter making

Whipping cream or cooking cream?

Physical differences

Despite the cooking cream and whipping cream have a fairly similar chemical composition, the first is NOT able to foam. This characteristic is due to the physical process it undergoes during the industrial processing phase: the UHT.

The cream that undergoes UHT treatment is exposed to an excessive pressure increase, which favors the deposition of casein micelles in the interface; in this case, at the time of cooling, they interact with each other forming a rather solid gel. This phenomenon, which is totally UNFIT for the whipping cream, is instead aimed at stabilizing the aforementioned "cooking cream".

Nutritional characteristics

Being a foamed product, the nutritional values ​​of the whipped cream correspond to about 1/3 of those of the "Cream or milk cream" LIQUID, since at the end of the processing QUEST'ULTIMA reaches a volume equal to three times the original liquid (2/3 of which they consist of atmospheric gases).

Whipped cream is a derivative of high-fat, therefore high-energy milk; even if the cholesterol values ​​and the breakdown of fatty acids are not available in the table, it is likely to assume that whipped cream abounds in both saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. All these aspects make whipped cream a food unsuitable for weight loss therapy, especially for those suffering from hypercholesterolemia.

The whipped cream contains a few grams of lactose (carbohydrates), a peculiarity that makes it unsuitable even for feeding intolerant to this glucose.

Except for the excellent concentration of vit. A, the whipped cream does not provide significant amounts of vitamins and / or mineral salts.

For all these characteristics, whipped cream is a food to be consumed infrequently and with very limited portions.