by Mary Brady
I was recently asked if there was anything whipped cream could be put on top of or added to that I didn’t like. (I am going to ignore all the innuendo popping up in my head and stick to the fluffy stuff that tickles my tongue and if piled high enough, perhaps even my nose.)
Quick answer, no. Real answer is longer.
The context of the question had to do with stewed dried plums. If you stew
dried fruit—plums and apricots are my favorite, cool the fruit, fold sweetened
whipped (real) cream into the fruit in a 3 to 1 ratio, you
get a kind of fluffy, sweet concoction that I could eat every day—but don’t. My
mother called the dried plum version prune whip. (Prune Whip The McCall Publishing Co.)
I started to wonder if there was anything I put whipped
cream on/in that I didn’t like.
I’d have to say the quick answer is correct—but there are
qualifications.
I’ve had whipped cream on/in things I didn’t like, but I
didn’t put it there, someone else did. And because I was so (TIC) polite, I tasted the
offering and, if the person stood and watched me, I ate it—all. Slight shudder.
If they walked away or got distracted, I found various ways to dispatch it.
Think “Friends” when Rachel Green crosses recipes and makes Beef Trifle.
Everyone but Joey (of course) found ways not to eat it.
One “whipped cream” (called that by those serving it, not
the manufacturer) has been lined up with a collection of things which contained at least one ingredient or one precursor ingredient also included in the whipped topping: margarine,
suntan oil, detergent, antifreeze, and others, some even less savory.
To be fair, these ingredients:
Provide air-cell stability under
cold to hot conditions,
Reduce syneresis,
Provide freeze-thaw stability,
Reduce processing time.
Sorry, I don’t know what syneresis is and I am not looking
it up. (All right, the writer in me eventually will.) I’m just not eating whipped "topping" any more no matter who serves it to
me.
For myself, when I refer to whipped cream, I mean handmade
from heavy cream, dehydrated cane sugar juice and real vanilla. Add coffee if you
want. Add chocolate. Add Cointreau, but please hold the polysorbate 60.
What do you like your whipped cream or whipped topping on most? Or tell your whipped cream story!
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23 comments:
If I must have whipped cream, and I don't really like it, then I want just fresh cream whipped - nothing added to it.
Can I check - the fruity/cream mix is three parts fruit to one part cream? Is that called a 'fool' in some places?
pageturner345@gmail.com
One of the things that makes me feel like a successful mother is that both of my sons know 1.) how easy it is to make fresh whipped cream, and 2.) how much more delicious that is than the stuff you can buy pre-made.
Here's my whipped cream story. My sons and I have been on our own for dinner this spring because my husband (our family chef) is working at night. Dinner has been hit or miss.
One night it was a hit--everything went great. My younger son even made mini-chocolate pudding pies and fresh whipped cream for dessert. We all took turns piping the cream onto the pies with a pastry bag.
Just as I was congratulating myself on excellent mothering (Cooking! Decorating! Family dinner!) I turned my back and one boy shoved a pie in the other's face.
They died laughing--nothing has ever been funnier. Oh well, it's one of those family stories that will be a good memory. :-)
Mary, I soooo agree with you. Whipped topping should NEVER be called whipped cream. I remember years ago going raspberry picking. When I came home I made custard. I whipped cream and folded in the freshly picked raspberries then layered it in pretty glasses with the custard. Heaven! Everything tasted so fresh. It just wouldn't have been the same with whipped topping!
Sweet way to start the week, Mary ;-)
Blogger marybelle said...
If I must have whipped cream, and I don't really like it, then I want just fresh cream whipped - nothing added to it.
May 14, 2012 3:06 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Can I check - the fruity/cream mix is three parts fruit to one part cream? Is that called a 'fool' in some places?
pageturner345@gmail.com
Oh, Ellen, I’m sooo rolling on the floor here. What great story! I commend your sons for taking the chance—and it comes up so rarely in the world—to seize the pie! It says volumes about you that they felt safe enough to splat dessert.
Thanks for the chuckles!
Mary, raspberry picking with custard and whipped cream sounds so yummy. Freshly picked raspberries are sooo flavorful. And you made custard! I have made custard, but not nearly as often as I have tried—I sometimes get something very un-custard like.
Thanks for the inspiration! I’m going to have to attempt the custard thing again soon. Maybe when the strawberries come in.
I'm not a huge whipped cream fan. I like it on coffees and a little on my strawberry shortcake, but that's it.
I did have a can in my fridge tht a couple of my son's friends got ahold of during a spend the night. I found whipped cream all over the dang place, so now I like it even less.
I love fresh whipped cream. In fact, I love it so much, when I found a small cream whipper a couple of months ago, I bought three! One for home, one for the vacation home, and one for the motorhome. They look a bit like a mini salad spinner but with a plunger inside the bowl. I keep them in the freezer so they're chilled and ready at all times.
My favorite things to mound whipped cream atop are strawberries, Key Lime pie (in a real pastry crust--non of that graham cracker stuff), and chocolate mousse.
Now I'm wanting whipped cream. Wonder how it would taste on Cheerios?
I love real whipped cream. I will tolerate the whipped topping but just barely.
I also have to ask if it's real turkey when I'm ordering a hot turkey sandwich in a restaurant. I hate processed turkey breast.
Liz, I love the boys and can of whipped cream story, especially since I didn’t have to clean it up or, worse, oversee boys cleaning it up. Thanks for telling on your son’s friends.
Yum! Strawberry shortcake!
Pamela, on Cheerios? I like the way you think. I have never seen the little cream whippers. I’ll have to keep an eye out. I agree with you about he crusts. I only like freshly made graham cracker crusts and I only like them filled with vanilla or butterscotch pudding and topped with whipped cream, of course.
Kaelee, I am so with you on the “real” food stuffs. The older I get and the more difficult it is to get pounds off, I have found myself being more and more picky. If it goes in, I want it to count for something. Don’t get me wrong, ice cream and the likes count for adding a little bliss to my soul, but it’s got to be good ice cream—that is when it melts, it can’t remain standing in scoop shape because there is so much non-cream, non-sugar, non-pecans, etc. the things that are the real food in ice cream.
My 24-year-old daughter cut me a piece of pie the other day and put whipped topping on it. I gave her the look. She asked why. In all those years, she had never realized that I don't eat whipped cream/topping! So she scraped it onto her pie instead, and I ate my pumpkin pie cream-less and ice-cream-less too. I will lick the beater, but I don't want it mixed with food. Yup, I'm fussy that way.... Please don't hold that against me.
Laney4, congrats on your food fussiness. I love mine! It has taken me several decades to be able figure out what I like and don’t like. Although I love whipped cream (never whipped topping) I get what you’re saying. My vanilla pudding can have no lumps. My tuna steak must remain in the kitchen if it’s going to be rare. My ice cream cannot be runny because it got too warm—one exception, hot fudge topping has been added.
If I'm going to indulge, it's gotta be real. Real butter, real whipped cream. Real half and half for my coffee (no decaf). The only exception is Diet Coke. I started drinking it as a teenager (it was way better than TAB) and now I can't drink the sugar kind.
Whipped topping is outlawed at our house because of my son's food allergies. It's often made with coconut oil, which our movie theater has finally replaced with canola oil. Yeah, we can eat popcorn again. Too bad they don't use real butter, though.
Raspberries! That would be my choice. That would be my idea of a heavenly taste treat. Barring that fresh cream puffs would be the it food.
Kristina, maybe movie theaters should sell packets of real butter, all melty and ready to squirt on our popcorn. They could sell it at a premium as they do everything else. Sounds like a good product for a niche market. Maybe someone will read this and it’ll come top neighborhood theaters soon!
Mary Diaz, yes, raspberries, freshly picked and warm from the sunshine, firm but very juicy, could never be shipped because they are too delicate. I wonder when the u-pick ones will be ready. State fair cream puffs—the only kind anyone should ever eat—though I’ve heard people complained because the whipped cream was too soft (real) so they “fixed” it and the puffs aren’t as good as they used to be. A shame.
We make real whip cream in our house, too. For Christmas season, I mix in smashed-up candy canes. That tastes great!
Yum, you've made me hungry, Mary! Right now, I'd love a mocha coffee topped with whipped cream. :-)
I vote for strawberries, too! With fresh whipped cream of course--that's one thing I never cheat on anymore, just like mashed potatoes--I grew up on the boxed kind and once I realized how much better mashed potatoes taste when you peel the potatoes yourself, I've never gone back. My brother told me that if you whip cream long enough it'll turn into whipped butter, which makes sense, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet. I'll have to do that soon--and I bet it would taste even better on home-baked bread. You've made me hungry, Mary! :-)
"You've made me hungry..." Right back at ya, Kathy. I grew up on real mashed potatoes and you're right. There's no real substitute! Yum. Hmmm, I wonder what's for dinner tonight!
I love whipped cream on hot chocolate, fruit and hot fudge sundaes :)
Snookie, you're making me hungry all over again. Thanks!
I agree with Snookie, I love whipped cream on hot chocolate, fruit and any kind of sundae.
BW, maybe we should vote in a whipped cream day. Strawberries and WC all day! Thanks for the comment!
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