In our daily life, many people like to enjoy sweet and delicious cream. But have you noticed that the cream we usually eat is also divided into two kinds: animal cream and vegetable cream, and the taste and appearance of the two creams have subtle but cannot be ignored.
Today, let Tadpole Jun lead everyone to understand animal cream and vegetable cream
Image source Wikipedia
01Where does the cream come from? Where to go?
First of all, no matter what kind of cream, we need to know how it is made. Cream, also known as "cream" and "klimt", was originally a white or yellow semi-solid food extracted from cow's milk or goat's milk. When raw milk is left in place for a period of time, the relatively low density of fat will float to the top layer of milk, and the traditional cream belongs to animal cream. In modern industrial processes, the standing stage of whipped cream is usually done by a centrifuge. Many countries divide the cream into different grades depending on the pure fat content. The whipped cream and light cream that we often buy in the domestic market actually refer to animal cream - cream extracted from natural cow's milk or goat's milk.
When we bake, according to the fat content in the cream, from low to high, it can be divided into light cream (cream), cream (butter), and anhydrous cream (anhydrous butter). These different grades of cream are also used differently in baking. Light creams with a less pure fat content are usually added to milk tea or coffee companions; generally more than 30%, and light creams with a purer fat content can be used to spread or frame the cake after being whipped. Next we will talk about vegetable cream, don't look at it is also called cream, but it has nothing to do with "milk"...
Vegetable cream is purely a cream made artificially after the vegetable oil has been turned into a processable solid by a "hydrogenation process".
Source: Wikipedia
02 The battle of the proper names of vegetable cream and animal cream
In fact, vegetable cream and animal cream have great differences in taste, price, appearance and whether the human body is healthy. One obvious benefit of animal cream is that it tastes good. When we savor it, the animal cream is mellow and creamy, and the taste is refreshing but not sweet. It does not produce trans fatty acids that are harmful to human health, and the fat content is relatively high.
Eat in moderation and be friendly to children and people with bodybuilding needs. But there is also one of the most obvious drawbacks – the price is high, and the price of animal cream is two to three times higher than that of vegetable cream. Moreover, animal cream is not easy to make shape, but also very easy to melt, can only be smeared on the surface of the cake and then simply spread several layers of fruit, chocolate.
Vegetable cream, on the other hand, is not only inexpensive, but also easy to dispense and store. You can use it to make a variety of shapes when making cakes, and it has a lot of staying power. However, since the main component of vegetable cream is hydrogenated vegetable oil, the content of trans fatty acids is high, and unsaturated fatty acids are also produced. In addition to the lack of milk flavor, which is not beneficial to good health, eating too much will also feel greasy. However, some cake shops will still choose vegetable cream in order to reduce costs and make a better looking shape to attract customers.
03 How to distinguish between animal cream and vegetable cream
As non-professional bakers, how can we effectively distinguish between animal cream and vegetable cream? Tadpole Jun teaches you a few tricks.
1. Look at the appearance. Animal creams with high fat content usually have a milky yellow color, while vegetable creams are all snow-white in color.
2. Taste carefully. Animal cream tastes with a rich milky aroma and is delicate and smooth. Vegetable cream, on the other hand, only has a sweet and creamy feel.
3. Take a closer look. Animal cream has a relatively low melting point, is not easy to store, and is easy to melt after buying home, while vegetable cream is not easy to melt even at room temperature.
Image source Wikipedia If we want to buy our own cream to make desserts, how do we choose?
We can observe the ingredient list behind the cream product, usually the fat content is only 10%, 20%, the main ingredient is sugar, flavor, milk powder and colorants, etc., basically can be judged to be plant cream, after choosing this cream, pay attention to not adding too much sugar when baking, because it is relatively sweet. The ingredient list of animal cream is milk, cream, whey protein, etc., and the fat content is as high as 30%.
However, animal cream is also animal fat, and fat will contain relatively high cholesterol, so we still do not advocate eating more cream, especially "three high" people and friends who are losing weight.
Therefore, no matter what kind of cream, you must eat it in moderation