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.

Health Benefits of Fresh Cream

1 tbsp of Amul fresh cream (15 gm) provides around 37 calories, out of which 34 calories are from fat (22 calories result from saturated fat), 2 calories from carbs and 1 calorie from protein. 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. In fact, fats will keep you full for a long time and avoid bingeing and weight gain. However, the proportion of cream and the way you use them in cooking is of great importance to maintain your waistline. You can add about a tsp of fresh cream once in a while to your meals, especially coffee, to enhance the taste. Moreover, the use of 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. But, try not to add fresh cream in bulk frequently. Also remember that with any kind of diet to stay fit and healthy, you need to follow a good exercise plan on a daily basis.

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