Cream vs. Crème: What’s the Difference?

Cream is a dairy product made out of butterfat that is extracted from raw cow’s milk to produce a fat-in-water emulsion. There are many types of cream on the market. All are milk products with varying fat contents.

Crème, often anglicized as creme, is the French word for “cream.” People often use the word “crème” to describe French-style creams, like crème fraîche, or creamy French foods, such as crème brûlée, crème anglaise, and crème caramel.

There are many types of creams or crème you can choose from when deciding which one to use in a dish. They each have varying amounts of butterfat content, some with higher fat contents than others, and they all have unique textures and flavors. Factories that produce commercial cream often use industrial centrifuges to speed up the separation of the milk fat and they may have added thickening agents like gelatin.

1. 1. Clotted cream: Also called Devonshire cream or Devon cream, clotted cream is a very high-fat content cream with a fifty-five to sixty percent butterfat. It often appears alongside biscuits or scones.
2. 2. Crema: Crema originated in Mexico and is thinner than either crème fraîche or sour cream. It has a milder taste than sour cream and has a similar tang to crème fraîche, and it is the sweetest of the three. It often balances out chipotle flavors in spicier recipes.
3. 3. Crème fraîche: Crème fraîche, French for “fresh cream” and anglicized simply as creme fraiche, is a thick cultured cream. Cultured cream is cream soured with a bacterial culture, just like cultured buttermilk. Crème fraîche has a nutty, tangy, slightly sour flavor and a fat content of around 30 percent. In French cuisine, it often serves as a thickener for soups and sauces.
4. 4. Sour cream: Sour cream is a very light cream with approximately twelve to sixteen percent butterfat. To make sour cream, combine cream with a bacterial culture and let it undergo fermentation at room temperature until the lactose (milk sugar) converts into sour-tasting lactic acid.
5. 5. Double cream: Double cream is a cream with forty-eight percent butterfat. Popular in British grocery stores, it’s slightly fattier than North American heavy cream.
6. 6. Heavy cream: Also called heavy whipping cream, heavy cream has thirty-six to thirty-eight percent butterfat. This is one of two types of cream commonly sold in U.S. grocery stores; the other is the slightly less heavy “light” whipping cream. Use either one to make homemade whipped cream; the heavy version is a better choice for making ice cream.
7. 7. Light cream: Also called single cream, light cream has roughly twenty percent butterfat. That isn’t enough fat to make whipped cream, but it is creamier than half-and-half or milk, making it a great option for coffee and tea.
8. 8. Irish cream: Irish cream might be the only alcoholic “cream.” It’s a type of whiskey-based liqueur flavored with cream and sugar. It’s an essential ingredient in Irish coffee.
9. 9. Whipping cream: Sometimes called light whipping cream, whipping cream has thirty percent butterfat. This is the lightest variety of cream used to make whipped cream.
10. 10. Mascarpone: Mascarpone, also known as Italian cream cheese, is a rich, spreadable cow’s milk cheese with an especially high percentage of butterfat. Mascarpone is made by adding a tartaric acid or citric acid like lemon juice to full-fat heavy cream. Mascarpone is a Renaissance-era invention from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy and a staple ingredient in Italian desserts like tiramisu.
11. 11. Cream cheese: Cream cheese isn’t actually a type of cream; it is a soft cow’s milk cheese that contains a high percentage of milk fat. It is a popular spread for bagels and is a key ingredient in cheesecake.

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