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Double Cream


MaryJ

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Is there any kind of American substitute, homemade or otherwise, for the double cream sold in the UK?

Searches I've done suggest making creme fraiche, but they do warn that the final product is a bit acidic. My problem is that the recipe I want to make, a lemon tart, already calls for the juice of five lemons. I love all things lemon, but I'm a little worried about just how acidic the final product might be. :shock:

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

MaryJ

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I believe double cream has a fat content of 48% and I have never seem it in Canada. What we can buy here in our local spermarket is clotted cream which has a fat content of 55%. Maybe you can use that tinned a bit with whipping cream?

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If you need more fat, you can add butter to your cream. Rose Levy Beranbaum has a method in her Cake Bible, basically melt some butter with a little cream, then stir that into the rest of your cream. Her method is for whipped cream, and you add the butter mixture at the end of the whipping.

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miladyinsanity: The filling sounds like a sort of lemon curd; lots of eggs and juice.

pastrygirl: I never thought of using melted butter, but it makes sense.

Thanks to all who responded. I'm dying to try this.

MaryJ

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  • 3 years later...

Hi,

It is easy to make double cream, IF you can find "manufacturer's cream". That is Pasteurized cream (not ultra-pasteurized) that contains cream and milk with no additives. It is important to keep the container cold and sealed beyond the expiration date.

When you open the cream, your nose will know what is inside. A week beyond expiration will yield some thickened cream and fresh buttermilk. A bit longer and the cream becomes thicker. Last week, I found and opened a container that was 55 days beyond expiration and there was no offputting odor. The cream had turned to a thick culture much like Devonshire cream. The buttermilk was very mild.

...Yes, I have lost a few containers that had turned, but very few.

Tim

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Hi,

It is easy to make double cream, IF you can find "manufacturer's cream". That is Pasteurized cream (not ultra-pasteurized) that contains cream and milk with no additives. It is important to keep the container cold and sealed beyond the expiration date.

When you open the cream, your nose will know what is inside. A week beyond expiration will yield some thickened cream and fresh buttermilk. A bit longer and the cream becomes thicker. Last week, I found and opened a container that was 55 days beyond expiration and there was no offputting odor. The cream had turned to a thick culture much like Devonshire cream. The buttermilk was very mild.

...Yes, I have lost a few containers that had turned, but very few.

Tim

You have cream that is not ultra-pasteurized and contains no fillers? Wow. Whole Foods used to carry that, but then they went to ultrapasteurized. Regular supermarkets haven't carried not-ultrapasteurized for years. Where do you live?

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I also recommend the manufacturers or manufacturing cream - I get it at Smart & Final. Some Costco stores also carry it if they have sufficient demand, usually from small restaurant owners.

Here in California it is produced by Alta Dena dairy and is listed on its products page. It is only available in half-gallon containers.

Check on the websites of the major dairies in your area and if they list it as one of their products, call and ask which retailers in the area carry it.

I don't have any on hand now but I believe the butterfat content has to be 40% or higher.

It does separate somewhat - I use it to make clotted cream - and after it has been allowed to set for a few days, the cream at the top becomes very thick, even in the fridge.

Transfer it to a straight-sided container, such as a Cambro which will make it easier to get the thicker cream off the top without remixing it.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Also, the Whole Foods in my area sells Devonshire doublecream and clotted cream. Expensive, but don't use it very often.

Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today. -- Edgar Allan Poe

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I used to buy an exceptionally thick cream from Trader Joe's in southern California that I think was was manufacturing cream. Came in a blue/white bottle and always had a thick plug of cream at the top. Lasted in the fridge for a long time. I'm guessing it was produced by Alta Dena. Not available in the northern part of the state.

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Another option, if you have a Latin American grocery near you, is to look for a product called Nata. This is, quite literally, the cream of the cream and is a good deal heavier than even Devonshire double. The nata I can buy here is almost as thick as whipped butter.

Twyst - the heat necessary for the reduction process of heavy whipping cream drastically changes the flavour of the resulting thickened cream. Even when one is extremely careful, one introduces a caramel note to it which is not desired in most recipes calling for double cream.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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