What is the best cream sold in Chicago?

I am looking for the best heavy or whipping cream I can get my hands on. Does anyone have suggestions? I usually get the organic whipping cream from Whole Foods, but would prefer something richer/heavier and not ultra-pasteurized. Is such a cream available around town? Where can I get it?

Oddly enough, I've recently been reading a bit about organic dairy. (I was hunting down info about a rumor regarding Horizon Farm's organic dairy products.)

The crux of the organic milk/cream situation seems to lie in the fact that most mass-marketed organic dairy products are expected to have to be shipped hundreds (if not thousands) of miles, and may not sell as quickly as your standard dairy products. (And they're considerably more expensive, so spoilage on the grocer's shelves is a greater concern.)

To get to my point - I've had zero luck finding organic milk/cream products that aren't ultra pasteurized. (Even in Organic Valley's corporate headquarters store in La Farge, WI - which I coincidentally toured yesterday.) Or in other words, I don't actually have an answer for you.

If you're interested in making a crusade out of this search, you might have luck trying to buy raw cream directly from an organic farmer. (Which is an idea I've lifted directly from a silmilar discussion in this thread.) Regrettably I don't even know where to start looking to find the "Family Farmers" who sell their organic milk to the larger corporations or cooperatives. I'm not sure they'd be willing to tell you if you approached them directly - but I'll include Organic Valley's contact info in case it might help.

Good luck, let us know if you have any success?

http://www.organicvalley.coop
Organic Valley Family of Farms
CROPP Cooperative
507 West Main Street
LaFarge, WI 54639

Fax: 608-625-2600
Toll-free Phone: 888-444-6455

E-Mail - organic@organicvalley.com

By far the best heavy whipping cream I've found has been Oberweiss's.

Don't just go there and buy whatever they have, make sure it says Oberweiss on the label.

Typically you have to ask for it at the counter and get a half gallon bottle. Sometimes the cashier may gripe about selling it to you, have them call their manager if they do.

This cream is pretty thick, actually a bit chunky. I have made whipped cream is less than a minute with it. It's fantastic, you just can't go back to the ordinary stuff in a cardboard box any more. It also makes terrific butter (often a project since you have to buy so much at a time).

Basically the stores stock it for making whipped cream for their ice cream treats. The only reason they shouldn't sell you a half gallon is if they're getting pretty low on stock.

Oh, occasionaly they have small plastic bottles of that heavy whipping cream. They will probably have them for Thanksgiving/Christmas. I'm just not sure when they stock it. These little bottles do seem like the same great cream. Maybe if they see enough interest they'll make it a regular item. That'd be great.

Nancy

Basically the stores stock it for making whipped cream for their ice cream treats. The only reason they shouldn't sell you a half gallon is if they're getting pretty low on stock.

Whipping cream is my gripe with Oberweiss. Actually, my gripe with whipping cream is not exclusive to Oberweiss. I love, love, love whipping cream. I love freshly whipped whipping. I have no affection for whipping cream where they use a gas canister to aerate it.

The two or three times I have had a Sundae at Oberweiss, it was gas canister aerated cream (I refuse to that whipped)! I watched them make it. They used a disposable commercial canned 'light cream' product, not a refillable gas canister with heavy whipping cream. So I don't know what they may be reserving their cream for because I haven't seen in it on my ice cream.

I was in Holland in October. I went to a local ice cream shop where they topped my ice cream cone with a rosette of fresh heavy whipped cream. Now that is something I would like to repeat again!

In West Virginia, I had another whipping cream experience which still charms me. Along the interstate (I think it is 81), there is a West Virginia crafts showcase called Tamarac. They also have a cafeteria-style restaurant featuring foods of West Virginia. I had a fruit cobbler for dessert. They inquired if I wanted whipping cream, I responded, "It depends what you are offering." From the rear, came a staff member holding a large pastry tube with a fluted tip filled with freshly whipped cream. I knew this was cream I wanted and allowed a very generous quantity to be arranged on my cobbler.

Unfortunately, most of my better whipped cream comes from home.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who detests ultra-pasteurized cream. Dean's is the only brand I've found locally that sells non-ultra half and half and whipping cream. I live in terror that they will stop offering it! Marilyn

At Fox and Obel, they sell Oberweiss whipping cream in 12 oz. plastic bottles. They say 40% butter fat. I think it costs $3.79 or something like that, and it isn't ultra-pasteurized like all the other hoity-toity brands they carry.

Long ago when I worked for Bennison's bakery, they told me that the "heavy cream" available to retail grocery customers was only X% fat. (I forget the number.) But the stuff they got in these pillow sized plastic sacks was 30+ percent.

I never did find out where they got it, or if one could possibly get less than a case of multi-gallon sacks. But, perhaps a call to a friendly bakery would yield some leads.

(I don't know if the bakery stuff was ultra-past. or not. But it was definitely richer than the norm.)

I typically buy the Organic Valley cream, which FYI is not ultra-pasturized. I hadn't thought it was, but wanted to confirm this and did this weekend. The Horizon cream available at Whole Foods is ultra pasturized, the Organic Valley is not. Once upon a time, Whole Foods carried an unbelievable cream, it was in a plastic milk bottle shaped container. I can't recall the name of it, but it was thick and yellowish - just wonderful. I haven't seen it in quite a while. The Organic Valley is a close second, though I will keep an eye out for the Oberweis cream.

I started looking into this topic recently, trying to find a way to get a hold of raw milk/cream. Looks like there is actually a population of people supporting a campaign for raw milk.

It's illegal in most of the country to sell raw milk products, but you are allowed to consume raw milk if you own the cow. So some ingenious people have worked out cow shares programs, whereby interested consumers buy a share of a cow or hold a share of the farm, which entitles them to a legal share of the bounty.

I came across this site, which lists sources by state. Unfortunately for me, most places don't deliver or only do so in a limited area usually accessible only by car (which I don't have), but it may help some more enterprising dairy lovers here who have their own transportation.

If anyone decides to pursue this venture, please let me know as I'd be interested in joining in.

Real Milk Sources

Two points:

1) Up to a few years ago, most farmers would sell raw milk to people that they knew. The problem was that the people would consume the milk or feed it to their babies KNOWING THE RISK and then blame the farmer for any illness and diarrhea. In other words, they purchased RAW milk and expected the protections of PASTEURIZED milk. (For the record, all my in-laws were dairy farmers and I have spent many hours in milking parlors.) The various county health departments (and the farmers' insurance companies) told many Ohio farmers to stop ALL raw milk sales.

2) From the cited website:

>>Ohio

Young's Dairy: NOTE: No longer selling raw milk. <<

Why did they stop selling raw milk? They had been doing it for 65+ years?


December 19, 2002

The Clark County Combined Health District is currently investigating a cluster of food poisoning incidents that may be related to Young's Jersey Dairy.

Eight cases of salmonella poisoning have been confirmed in six area counties, all linked by contact with Young's, Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson said Tuesday. The Health District has asked Young's to pull from store shelves unpasteurized milk products, which are a potential contaminant source.

Epidemiologists and health inspectors have been working with Young's since last Wednesday, Dec. 11, "to ensure the safety of the customers," Patterson said.

cooksguide wrote:I'm glad I'm not the only one who detests ultra-pasteurized cream. Dean's is the only brand I've found locally that sells non-ultra half and half and whipping cream. I live in terror that they will stop offering it! Marilyn

I was Director of Marketing at Dean Foods in a former life. The practice then, as is common with most large dairies, was to sell ultra-pasteurized heavy cream most of the year, for its long shelf life when the product doesn't turn over very fast on grocers' shelves. During the holiday season (i.e. now) when cream sells more briskly, HTST pasteurized product was what we put out.

Since Dean was acquired by Suiza (which subsequently changed its corporate name to Dean Foods, but don't be mistaken, they fired all the key Dean people and put Suiza people in their place) .... I don't know what their policies are now.

Hi,

Tonight I made mussels where heavy cream is added to the mussel liquor and reduced until slightly thickened. The only cream I had in the house was a half pint of ultrapasteurized cream with a good until date of September, 2005 ... today is January 15th, 2006.

This container wasn't lost in the refrigerator. I was aware of its presence. I will tuck it into the rear for it to be forgotten. Someone who shall remain nameless will find it and put it at eye level in the refrigerator.

In a moment of what-the-heck, I opened the cream to find it still fresh tasting or at least not spoiled. I used it for the mussel reduction without any off tastes noted by the diners.

At the conclusion of the meal, I told nameless the cream came from our friend the expired cream carton from September, 2005. There was no reason to hunt down the carton from the rear of the refrigerator because it has finally met its just awards.

While I realize using this expired cream will make many cringe, I have to tell you I was quite impressed by its' staying power. It doesn't mean I am eager to repeat this exercise though the results were positive.

Regards,

Cathy was the date sell by or use by. Most milk products in Chicago have a sell by date which means you cannnot sell it after that date. It does not mean you cannot use it after that date. As a matter of fact if it smells good and tastes good it is still good even if it after the sell by date.
Paulette

paulette wrote:Most milk products in Chicago have a sell by date which means you cannnot sell it after that date. It does not mean you cannot use it after that date.

I think that's right. The sell-by dates are deliberately conservative, because who knows whether your grocery keeps its refrigerated cases as high as 50°+ (it happens), or, for that matter, how cold your refrigerator is.

And, as a UHT product, unopened, you know they've pasteurized the hell out of it, and if it got lost in the back of the refrigerator (the colder part) there wouldn't be much chance for significant beasties to develop. Smell/taste is a good test, but heating it to 165° or so will kill anything you need to be concerned about (if it's spoiled, that won't fix the taste, though).

On the original question - has anyone tried the cream from the new dairy folks at Green City Market?

We use heavy cream from Kilgus Farmstead Dairy down here in good ol' Central Illinois. I know that they are delivering in Chicagoland, specifically to a few restaurants. An inquiry to their website might give a good answer. They are the only dairy farm in the State, if not several States that goes from their own cow to the bottle on the farm. We've never been unhappy with anything we're using.

Kilgus Farmstead is located 1 mile south of Fairbury on 1st street.
21471 E 670 N. Rd
Fairbury, IL 61739
(815)-692-6080
http://www.kilgusfarmstead.com/

Kilgus is great. It's also available at Whole Foods (though perhaps not all locations)

paulette wrote:Cathy was the date sell by or use by. Most milk products in Chicago have a sell by date which means you cannnot sell it after that date. It does not mean you cannot use it after that date. As a matter of fact if it smells good and tastes good it is still good even if it after the sell by date.
Paulette

I have waited as long as 57 days to open a container of Meijer heavy cream. By that time it was double Devonshire quality, with no odor.

Reading the label is crucial. "Manufacturer's Cream" is pasteurized and contains one (cream) or two ingredients (cream, milk), depending on the butterfat content.

Tim

Siun wrote:On the original question - has anyone tried the cream from the new dairy folks at Green City Market?

I've tried the milk and the half & half and I've really liked both, the both got high praise from out of town company. I haven't tried the cream yet, but next time I need some I'll try it and report back. The dairy is Castle Rock from Osseo WI.

Thanks for the name of the dairy mbh - when I get back to town, I'll pick some up as well.