Cream vs. Milk: What’s the Difference Between Cream and Milk?

Cream and milk are dairy products that come from mammals. In the United States, these products usually come from cows, although humans also consume the milk and cream of goats, sheep, and buffaloes. Milk and cream have notable differences, mostly stemming from the amount of fat found in each.

• Milk: Milk is sold in grocery stores as a beverage and a cooking ingredient. It contains a sugar called lactose, as well as calcium, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. Different varieties contain different levels of milk fat. Skim milk (or nonfat milk) contains no fat at all. Low-fat milk contains one or two percent milkfat. Whole milk contains roughly three-and-a-half percent milk fat. Plant milks (like almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, and coconut milk) are distinct from dairy milk and cannot be made into related products like cream or butter.
• Cream: Cream is made out of butterfat that is extracted from raw cow's milk. There are many types of cream on the market. All are milk products with varying amounts of fat. Sour cream is a very light cream with approximately twelve to sixteen percent butterfat, but it also contains a bacterial culture to produce an acidic flavor. Light cream (also called single cream) has roughly twenty percent butterfat. Whipping cream (sometimes called light whipping cream) has thirty percent butterfat. Heavy cream (also called heavy whipping cream) has thirty-six to thirty-eight percent butterfat. Crème fraîche has roughly forty-two percent butterfat. Double cream has forty-eight percent butterfat. Clotted cream (also called Devonshire cream or Devon cream) has fifty-five to sixty percent butterfat.

While used for many of the same purposes, coffee creamer and half-and-half are distinctly different.

• Half-and-half: Half-and-half is equal parts whole milk and light cream. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes it as having at least ten-and-a-half percent butterfat, although some brands offer higher fat content.
• Coffee creamer: Creamer is not real cream but rather a cream substitute made of evaporated milk solids, corn syrup, and various additives used as preservatives. A coffee cream substitute can be handy when fresh milk is not available.

Home chefs often buy cream for a cooking project, but then end up with more cream than their recipe calls for. Consider some ways to use your leftover cream.

1. 1. Ricotta cheese: You can turn heavy cream into ricotta cheese by boiling it with salt and lemon juice.
2. 2. Salad dressing: Try using cream and buttermilk to make a rich ranch dressing.
3. 3. Mashed potatoes: Add a small amount of cream to a mashed potato recipe.
4. 4. Soups: You can make a cream-based soup from scratch or add a splash of cream to an existing soup.
5. 5. Whipped cream topping: Use whipped cream atop ice cream sundaes, pies, eggnog, and fruit compotes.

Milk is an essential ingredient in many recipes.

1. 1. Ice cream: Despite the name, most ice cream recipes use whole milk, not cream.
2. 2. Cappuccino: The key to a delicious cappuccino is foamed milk on top of an espresso.
3. 3. Macaroni and cheese: You can make macaroni and cheese richer without adding a significant amount of fat if you add milk to the mixture.
4. 4. Baked goods: An untold number of baked goods recipes call for milk.
5. 5. Creamed spinach: Milk is the key ingredient in the bechamel sauce base for a perfect creamed spinach side dish.

You can substitute regular milk for cream when you are trying to lower the fat content and overall calorie count of your meal. Take note that milk has fewer fat solids than cream, so it will be more watery and less viscous, and it will also taste notably less rich.

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