Description
When fresh cream is blended with sugar, sweet cream is created. Buffalo's milk is preferred as the cream of choice as it is richer in fat than cow's milk. Glossy and snow white, in texture and colour, sweetened cream is used generously when making desserts and sweetmeats. This can be made at home with the malai skimmed off the surface of milk. Commercially the homogenised version is made available.

How to Select
• Always pick up your cream near the end of your shopping trip to ensure that they stay chilled for longer until it reaches your refrigerator at home.
• The best before date indicates how long the unopened product will retain its freshness and high quality.
• For optimum quality and freshness, milk and cream should be used by the best before date.

Culinary Uses
• Sweet cream is used as an ingredient in cakes, ice cream, sweet sauces, and as a custard base.
• Coffee, lassi and milkshakes. take on a more sweetened flavour with the addition of sweetened cream.
• A chilled cup of strawberry with cream tastes delicious, orr you could pair any fruit of your choice with sweet cream.
• Malai pedha, ras malai or malai kulfi, tastes the way it does because of sweet cream.

How to Store
• Store sweet cream on refrigerator shelves rather than the door The colder the condistions the better for sweet cream's storage.
• Freezing cream is not recommended because it affects the quality of the product.
• Freezing also causes changes to the fat content of sweet cream, which can lead to a poor texture on defrosting.
• Always store the cream covered with a lid, as dairy products have a tendency to quickly absorb the odours of other food.