is half and half the same as single cream?

[drdawn]

I've just moved to the US from Britain. There we have single cream and double cream, double being the fattier of the two and capable of being whipped. Is half and half single cream, or is there light cream vs heavy cream--I'm assuming the heavy cream here is indeed double cream???

I am confused as to what constitutes the respective halves.

[Das Ubergeek]

Here's the table by milkfat content; single cream is the same as light cream, though light cream is almost universally unavailable these days. You may need to contact an actual dairy.

"Half-and-half" refers to half whipping cream, half nonfat (skimmed) milk. (0% + 30%)/2 = 15% = half-and-half

US:

Nonfat milk: 0%-1%
1% milk: 1%-2%
Lowfat milk: 2%-4%
Whole milk: 4%
Half-and-half: 12%-15%
Light cream: 18%-30% (generally unavailable)
Whipping cream: 30%-36%
Heavy whipping cream: 36%-44%
Manufacturer's cream: 44%+

UK:

Skimmed milk: 0%
Low-fat milk: 2%
Homo milk: 4%
Half cream: 12%
Single cream: 18%
Whipping cream: 35%
Double cream: 48%

[coll]

If you're in the NY area, light cream is available in every supermarket I shop in.

[Karl S]

It seems that we in the Northeast can readily get light (single) cream, but that it is not readily available in other parts of the country, especially California (IIRC from prior threads on this subject).

I always have heavy (or whipping, if fresher) cream on hand to dilute with 1% milk (which is what I normally drink) to create whatever level of milk/cream I need. For example, I prefer a rich whole milk for cereal (and, IIRC, half-and-half is somtimes called cereal cream in Canada) and certain other things. I created a little spreadsheet to calculate the ratios (how many teaspoons or tablespoons of cream to ounces of milk), and presto, it's a piece of cake. A lot easier than trying have all different sorts of dairy around.

[mark]

care to share the conversions?

[Karl S.]

I'll have to remember to do that at a time I can access the spreadsheet.

[mark]

thanks... i'd really appreciate it.

[Karl S]

Let's see how it formats....

Add the following to 1 cup of skim milk to approximate 1 cup of

1.5t heavy cream= 1% milk
1T heavy cream= 2% milk
2T heavy cream= whole milk
5T 1t heavy cream= half-&-half
9T heavy cream= light cream
1T light cream= 1% milk
1T 2t light cream= 2% milk
3T light cream= whole milk
5 oz light cream= half-&-half
2T half & half= 1% milk
3T half & half= 2% milk
4T half & half= whole milk

[mark]

thanks... that will come in handy

[Tom]

In the resort areas of Mexico it is almost impossible to find half and half or coffee cream but whipping cream is often available. So we buy the whipping cream and dilute it with water to produce an equivalent half and half.
So Karl all you really need to stock is the whipping cream and a new spread sheet for water.

[Karl S]

It's not the same for most uses (coffee disguises how it's not, especially if you are adding sugar anyway). You don't have enough milk solids (lactose, among other things) that way.

[Kimm]

Light cream is easily available here in the Chicago area.

[gp]

Can't find it here CA in regular supermarkets. These markets also don't sell coffee-milk syrups or freshly sliced sandwich-style "big" pepperoni among other things.

[Kimm]

What's "coffee-milk syrup"?

[Bob W.]

Coffee syrup is used to make coffee milk. Coffee milk is the official state drink of Rhode Island. You can buy coffee syrup in eastern Mass. too but probably not much farther from RI than that.

It's now made by one company, Autocrat, Inc., under three labels: Autocrat (motto: A Swallow Will Tell You), Eclipse (motto: You'll smack your lips when it's Eclipse), and Coffee Time. All three labels appear to have not be changed since the 1950s. Autocrat bought the ccompanies that made the other two but has kept the different recipes.

Coffee syrup is how Rhode Islanders turn their kids into coffee addicts. When I was a wee lad my Great Aunt Pearl used to make us RI coffee milkshakes (milk and syrup, no ice cream; ice cream turns a milkshake into a cabinet).

True story: a few years ago, I had VA license plate COFE MLK. One day I was stopped by some folks who turned out to be from RI and they had a case of coffee syrup in their trunk!

Autocrat has a superb Web site. Learn all about coffee syrup and buy any of the three kinds!

Link: http://www.autocrat.com/cart/index.cfm

[hobokeg]

for simplicity's sake:

british double = u.s. heavy
british single = u.s. light
british semi-skimmed = u.s. 2% fat milk
british regular milk = u.s. whole milk
british skimmed = u.s. skimmed.

i believe (could be wrong, other hounds will know)half and half contains half whole milk and half light cream.

as an american living in the UK, i've had a bit of a time getting used to the british versions! but i love the extra thick versions of single and double cream available here. we don't have those in the US.

[JudiAU]

When purchasing cream, avoid ultra-pasturized which is a terrible, terrible product. It tastes off and it doesn't whip well.

[raj1]

It's so hard to find cream that isn't utra-pized. It's not only tasteless, it doesn't make good creme fraiche because every bit of good living stuff in it has been killed when it gets cooked.