The All-star Milk Lineup – Team Milk

Even though hand-dipped chocolates only come around our place during the holidays; milk and its teammates hang around our house year-round. Let’s look at each in relation to hand-dipped chocolates.

We’ve got heavy cream, heavy whipping cream, whipping cream, cream, evaporated milk, canned milk, condensed milk, sweet and condensed milk, half-and-half, whole milk, 2% milk, low-fat milk, and nonfat milk, which my grandchildren when given non-fat or skim milk, claim is just white water.

In this post we’re not talking about the junior league milk like coconut and almond milk on this team. Why? Because I don’t find it in any of my hand-dipped chocolate recipes. So as not to offend, I do concede there are games where the minor league milks perform valiantly.

Let’s move on. Hopefully, next time you’re standing there with the dairy case door open, and all the milk team is lined up, side by side on the shelves; you can think of the dairy case as the sidelines, the teammates on the bench ready to be sent into the game.

It wouldn’t really matter which player on the milk bench you send in, if it didn’t matter that each player will ultimately affect the consistency, texture, and flavor of the game.

In reality, the basic difference is fat content. Because the percentage of fat plays such an important role in performance; we’ll spend most of this article on that. The more the milkfat, the merrier in my opinion.

Meet our All-star milk lineup, introducing Team Milk

Let’s look at fresh milk straight from the cow. Early in our marriage, my wife and I bought a home in the middle of Northern Utah farmland. We leased the back half of our property to a neighbor who used our field for his cow. The lease payments consisted of fresh raw milk. Yep, it was liquid gold with all of its varied uses. That’s perhaps why I am so well-rounded. But I, and our children all have strong bones. Raw fresh milk is loaded with nutrients, after all, it’s designed to fully nourish a newborn. Just look at raw milk’s stat sheet.

Just one cup (244 grams) of whole cow’s raw milk contains:

• Calories: 150
• Protein: 8 grams
• Fat: 8 grams
• Calcium: 30% of the RDA
• Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA, along with the vitamin A, there’s magnesium,  zinc and thiamine (B1)
• Iron: 6% of the RDA
• Cholesterol: 10% of the RDA
• Sugars: 12 grams


Raw milk’s not just an excellent source of protein, it contains hundreds of different healthy fatty acids, including conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3s, high amounts of beneficial antioxidants, such as vitamin E and beta-carotene. The list goes on.

But since I don’t have a cow any longer, at least not that often, I have to recruit my players from the dairy case.

When it comes to milk there is much more than just the fat, but let’s stick with the fat for now.

Getting over the goal line requires a given combination of fat, sugar, and water. The amount of each or combination will vary the texture, flavor, and color. Different combinations of the eleven milks team members make up the play. Sometimes it’s a pouring play, other times a dipping play.

(A special note to all you sciency, chemists who think you know your way around confections, I welcome your comments. I don’t necessarily need to be the expert. I just need the candy fix and I need it as creamy and flavorful as possible. If you can help me out, do so… please.)

Heavy Cream and Heavy Whipping Cream

Heavy cream  is a clutch player for both sweet and savory recipes. Heavy cream contains between 36 and 40 percent milkfat and is thicker than light cream, whipping cream, half-and-half, whole milk, and evaporated milk. Heavy cream’s high-fat content means that it won’t curdle when heated, and is the best choice for whipping into stiff peaks.

Is heavy cream the same as heavy whipping cream?

Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are actually the same product just with two different jerseys. According to the FDA, heavy cream and heavy whipping cream must contain at least 36% milkfat. Next time you see heavy cream and heavy whipping cream seated on the grocery store sidelines, you won’t have to think twice about which one to send into the game. Different position, same delicious dairy performance.

Heavy cream makes everything richer, creamier, and tastier.

Cream and Whipping Cream

Whipping cream contains between 30% to 35% milkfat, which means that it is a lighter product than heavy cream (heavy whipping cream). You guessed it, cream and whipping cream play the same position, just depends on what name was printed on the jersey.

 

 

 

 

 

The 5 percentage point difference in milkfat may not seem like a playmaker, but it can drastically change the richness and thickness of the finished confection. If you’ve ever scouted the performance, you know the lower fat content in whipping cream means that it won’t ever achieve perfectly stiff peaks when whipped. So, if you need to impress the crowds with whipped cream on pies or cakes, use heavy cream.

Half-and-Half

You might notice the trend here. The main difference between half-and-half and heavy cream is the milkfat content. Half-and-half is literally made with equal parts of heavy cream and milk. The FDA requires that half-and-half contains between 10.5% and 18% milkfat. Remember that heavy cream, on the other hand, is a thicker and richer cream that contains at least 36% milkfat, nearly double that of half-and-half.

Watch out for fat-free half-and-half. If you take out the fat, it’s something else. Likely skim milk with corn syrup and a bunch of other stuff. Stay with the real stuff. If you don’t want fat, eat vegetables instead of candy.

Real half-and-half is lower in fat and offers some benefits of creamy milk but it won’t whip like cream.

When to use half-and-half

If you’re trying to cut back on fat, half-and-half is a suitable substitute. However, don’t try to whip half-and-half for whipped cream; the product doesn’t contain nearly enough milkfat to form luscious stiff peaks that will hold their own shape.

Half-and-half is the perfect way to add a silky richness to caramel sauce.

Heavy Cream and Milk

You can easily make half-and-half by mixing equal parts heavy cream and milk and shaking vigorously.

You can also use half-and-half in recipes that call for nearly equal parts of heavy cream and milk. For example, instead of using 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk, you can safely substitute for 2 cups of half-and-half.

A mid-article sum-up.

•               Heavy cream contains between 36 and 40% milkfat.
•               Whipping cream contains between 30 and 35% milkfat.
•               Light cream contains between 18 and 30% milkfat.
•               Half-and-half contains between 10.5 and 18% milkfat.

Evaporated Milk

Our other crowd-pleasing favorite is evaporated milk (which is not the same as condensed milk) but (is the same as canned milk) but (condensed milk which also comes in a can usually brings to mind Sweet and Condensed Milk). Get it right. And you will if you keep reading.

Evaporated milk is milk. It’s usually sold in cans, and made by removing about 60 percent of the water from ordinary milk. Milk is homogenized and then the water is removed with gentle heat. The more dense milk is sealed in cans which are then heated to kill any bacteria in the milk. The process of heating the evaporated milk in the cans imparts a slightly sweet flavor to the milk and it’s just a bit darker in color than ordinary milk. It has a similar viscosity to half-and-half.

It adds more creaminess than fresh milk with less fat than regular cream. It is also frequently used in place of half-and-half. Evaporated milk tastes like milk but with a thicker, less watery consistency.

Sweet and Condensed Milk

Condensed Milk Vs Evaporated Milk

As I just pointed out so eloquently, it’s important to note that condensed milk and evaporated milk are not the same player. Yet, evaporated milk is basically unsweetened condensed milk. Both of these players have about 60% of their water removed. However, they are not interchangeable at all — they are very different in consistency, flavor, and function. On average, sweet and condensed milk contains about 45% sugar which is added after condensing the milk. This helps give the ingredients their thick, shiny, gooey consistency.

I consider sweet and condensed milk as a special-teams player because, it gives that little extra point or when you can’t get over the goal line the right way or you’re impatient, you score your sweet goal the lazy way. Thus, Sweetened Condensed Milk is an incredibly functional player. Naturally, it sweetens up the playing field.

But, it also functions as a tenderizing ingredient that adds moisture. And, the high amounts of sugar in the product helps give the golden-brown color when the sugars caramelize during heating.

What adds to the confusion is that both evaporated or sometimes called canned milk and sweet and condensed milk are both sold in cans, which helps preserve this perishable ingredient. What also helps extend the shelf life in sweetened condensed milk is the high concentration of sugar and lack of water. All-in-all, when unopened, this product can last for years!

Heavy cream has an endless amount of uses. It helps enrich recipes while adding a ton of moisture. It can add a bit of color to baked items when the sugars caramelize.

Plus, it is a fantastic ingredient that can help bind others together. It adds tenderness, creaminess, and an overall softer texture to any item.

Now as for 2% and 1% low-fat milk and non-fat or skim milk, they’re seldom sent into the candy game. They’re too lightweight for the demanding plays we run in the hand-dipped chocolates Super Bowl.

I think it really comes down to richness, creaminess, and smoothness,

Now the most important thing about regular whole milk is that it is the most thoughtful and compassionate and universal ingredient in hand-dipped chocolates. It, without any selfish thought, gives of itself wholly to make sure your freshly baked chocolate chip cookies don’t get lonely. Not to mention it contributes to both the caramel and cream centers we use with hand-dipped chocolates by adding moisture, fat, and sugars.

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/heavy-cream-substitute

http://milkfacts.info/Milk%20Composition/Milk%20Composition%20Page.htm