Dairy Products: Heavy Cream

Heavy cream has a much higher percentage of fat than whole milk. The most common percentage is 40 percent (based on total weight); this will be the preferred percentage for the ice cream and gelato recipes in this book. Heavy cream is generally mixed with milk to reduce the fat content in an ice cream or gelato base, because using only heavy cream will produce a base that contains a very high fat content. This extra fat will quickly congeal while it is in the batch freezer machine (or Pacojet) and produce a grainy texture in the finished product. However, heavy cream is used in its entirety when it comes to aerated still-frozen desserts. It is one of the ingredients that is “aerated,” meaning that air is incorporated into it through whipping, and this is directly responsible for the desserts’ light texture and smooth mouth feel. The other ingredient that is aerated, depending on the type of frozen dessert, will be the egg (yolk, whites, or both).