What is Fresh Cream?

Fresh cream is a dairy product that is extracted from milk. It is made by processing and sterilizing milk at high temperature and then packaged. Since, it contains only 18-25% milk fat , you cannot use it as whipping cream(which contains almost 35% milk fat). The thick and glossy fresh cream with silken texture suits both sweet and savoury dishes. Commercially available fresh cream is best used to flavor soups, curries, fruit desserts because of the dense richness it adds to the texture of the recipe.

How to Select Fresh Cream

• Puffy and leaking boxes of cream are best avoided.
• Cream in a tetra pack or box, is not exactly fresh, but that's the closest equivalent to fresh cream.

9 Uses of Fresh Cream

1. Fresh cream is obtained by skimming the top layer of milk. It is super rich and enhances the flavor of all the things it is added to.

2. Adding cream to coffee makes it taste better, giving it a luscious taste. Not only is it added to hot coffee, but is also added to cold coffee preparations.

3. In India, it is used in various types of dishes. Adding it to subzis like Methi Matar Malai provides a rich and mouth feel and thicker gravy that is more enjoyable to eat. It also settles the flavor down a little bit if any spice or chili is overpowering the food. Similarly it is used in rice preparations like Kofta biryani and thick dals to make them creamier.

4. Fresh cream is used in soups to make them creamier in taste, the most famous soups being Cream of Tomato and Cream of Broccoli soup.

5. Sour Cream, which is an essential for Mexican cuisine, is also made from fresh cream.

6. Since it is so rich and creamy, it is an important ingredient to make Ice Cream. Because of fresh cream, the ice creams turn out perfect even without an ice cream maker and doesn’t form any ice crystals on cooling.

7. Different types of desserts that require some velvety texture to them, all use fresh cream as an ingredient. It is especially important in making Panna Cotta, a lush and pillowy dessert.

8. Italian Food uses cream as one of their main ingredients. Fetuccine Alfredo, or for that matter, any white sauce pasta, has fresh cream in it to get an even consistency which is rich, flowy and coats the pasta well.

9. Fruit salads taste exceptionally delicious drizzled with fresh cream.

How to Store Fresh Cream

• Before opening, store the cream in a cool and dry place for up to 120 days from packaging. It does not require any refrigeration. But once opened, store in a refrigerator and use within 4 days.

Is one tablespoon fresh cream healthy ?

Fresh Cream : 1 tbsp of fresh cream (15 gm) provides around 18 calories, out of which 16 calories result from saturated fat. Till late, saturated fat was always looked upon as that evil fat which would lead to high cholesterol levels and strokes. Offhand, studies have revealed no such association. So, the next question that arises is “Are saturated fats healthy then?” What’s more important is to look at your diet in totality. Fats, in reality, will keep you full for long time and avoid bingeing and weight gain. And yes, the body for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A, D, E and K, needs some amounts of fat.

Moreover, this cream cuts down on bitterness of the coffee, so you won’t add any sugar to your coffee. Addition of sugar will anyways cause more harm to your body. If you have refined sugar, then your body has to produce insulin to digest it and this sugar has a high glycemic index so it is used up quickly in the body. This will be followed by feeling hungry more easily.

You can add about a tsp of fresh cream once in a while to your meals to enhance the taste. Try and not to add it in bulk frequently. This holds true for a healthy individual or for those suffering from diabetes, heart problem etc. Remember that with any kind of diet to stay fit and healthy, you need to chalk a good exercise plan and follow it too on a daily basis.

Yet looking for a healthier option? Then, rely on healthier type of saturated fats, which contain MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides), which is the real buzz currently. Coconut, coconut meat, coconut oil and coconut milk are the perfect example of this.

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