Heavy cream, when forgotten, becomes...?

What have I got?

For the past six months, a half-full quart container of heavy whipping cream has been sitting--ignored and forgotten--in the back of the second refrigerator, slightly open to the air. I rediscovered it this morning and decided to investigate. The container had basically two things: a very sour smelling whey, which I poured off. And a surprisingly sweet, very thick "cream," almost like a soft cheese. I tasted it several times to be sure and each time it was sweet, thick, and unctuous. What do I have? (Other than a propensity to forget?)

Clotted cream with the heating step skipped?

Diannie wrote:Clotted cream with the heating step skipped?

Biscuits and strawberry jam cannot be too far behind!

Regards,

Creme fraiche?

How pastureized was the cream to begin with, Gypsy Boy?

It was your "standard" grocery store-bought quart of stuff. Which is to say pasteurized at the least...maybe even ultra-, although I'm inclined to doubt that. Let's see...a quick perusal of the web suggests (albeit not definitively) that it is quite unlikely to be more than pasteurized. Does that make a difference?

Well, creme fraiche needs a culture. Pasteurization would kill any that it were in the cream from the farm/dairy/store.

However, I assume that new cultures could make their ways into the pasteurized cream in your refrigerator. Maybe that's what's happened?

(Just a note to say that I've seen similar creatures in my cartons of cream but never actually eaten the stuff. Thanks for taking one for the team, Gypsy Boy!)

Bridgestone wrote:Well, creme fraiche needs a culture. Pasteurization would kill any that it were in the cream from the farm/dairy/store.

That's what I had thought as well. And the remarkable thing about it is that there is a very "fresh" taste to it, almost a sweetness. Clotted cream seems like the right description, except for the fact that it requires heating. So I'm wondering if I've gotten clotted cream through a default of very long, slow, cold evaporation.... Liquid was either on top and evaporated or caught underneath the growing clump and soured. What amazed me was that, despite very sour whey, it affected the clump of cream not at all. Hell, I stuck the clump in a baggy and intend to use it!

Gypsy Boy wrote:I tasted it several times to be sure and each time it was sweet, thick, and unctuous. What do I have?

Huevos the size of bowling balls!

Not a chance in hell I'd have tasted 6 month old half-full cream.

GB,

You've got my undying admiration.

Thanks, for the report.

=R=

Gypsy Boy wrote:It was your "standard" grocery store-bought quart of stuff. Which is to say pasteurized at the least...maybe even ultra-, although I'm inclined to doubt that. Let's see...a quick perusal of the web suggests (albeit not definitively) that it is quite unlikely to be more than pasteurized. Does that make a difference?

What brand was it?

Nearly all the supermarket brands of heavy cream that I've come across are ultra-pasteurized, this actually includes the organic selections at grocery stores like whole foods. The only exception that I've found is a particular Dean's that is single pasteurized. Although it still throws me for a loop when the other sizes of Dean's are ultra-pasteurized. You just have to watch.

When I'm making alfredo, a good cream sauce or ice cream I always go to Oberweiss dairy and pick up a half gallon of high fat, single pasteurized goodness for around $9.00.

Good cream, good eggs and good butter. There really are no substitutes.




dan