Dairy in France

[silconecook]

i was trying to make a gratin and american recipes ask for heavy cream but i don't know what is heavy cream in france. tried google but it made me even more confused

what is creme legere semi epaisse? is this heavy cream?
what is creme entier?

thanks for your help.

 

[Dawgluver]

Hmm. Perhaps some of our bilingual folks could weigh in on this. Maybe check the fat content on the ingredient list. Our regular 1/2 and 1/2 ( half milk, half cream) has 5% total fat, and 10% saturated fat. So full fat (heavy) cream might have 10% total fat or more. Just a guess.

 

[merstar]

i was trying to make a gratin and american recipes ask for heavy cream but i don't know what is heavy cream in france. tried google but it made me even more confused

what is creme legere semi epaisse? is this heavy cream?
what is creme entier?

thanks for your help.

Hello,
Creme legere is light cream. Creme entiere is heavy cream.

 

[Rocklobster]

And now for some French cream terminology:

Creme: must have a minimum fat content of 30% to be called creme or creme entiere. If the fat content is lower a product must use a descriptor such as légere or allegée or not use the word creme at all.

Creme fraiche: always pasturised, and usually has a lactic culture added. This makes it ever so slightly sour tasting, lengthens its shelf life, thickens the cream and means it does not separate when heated. Its fat content is around 40%. Used for dolloping and cooking. Only found in the chiller cabinet. It is not the same as the anglophone sour cream.

Creme crue: always unpasturised, but otherwise as above. This is what I generally buy, as my laitiere delivers it to the house.

Fleurette: originally the cream that rose to the top of the milk, but it has been adopted by the dairy industry to indicate cream that does not have a lactic culture added. There are no rules about its use, so read labels carefully before buying. It can have a fat content as low as 5%. Usually creme fleurette is 30-35% and used for whipping, fleurette is 20% and used for pouring, creme fleurette legere is 5-15%. It often contains stabilising gels.

Liquide: pasturised or UHT cream that has a fat content of at least 30%, and has not had a lactic culture or thickener added. Often used synonymously with creme fleurette by cooks.

Fluide: there are no rules covering this term, but usually means creme fraiche with a lower fat content, around 30%.

Epaisse: 'thick' or 'thickened', usually with a lactic ferment. Often used synonymously with creme fraiche by cooks. Can be found in the chiller cabinet or as a UHT product.

Légere: 'light', products with a fat content of less than 30%, usually somewhere between 15% and 5%.

Fouettée: 'whipped'.

Chantilly: sweetened whipped cream flavoured with vanilla and stabilised with gums. You can buy packets of 'Chantilly mix', which contain the sugar, flavouring and stabilisers to add to your creme liquide / epaisse / fleurette for whipping success.

 

[taxlady]

I wish people would just say what butter fat percentage the cream should have or a percentage range.

 

[CWS4322]

I find this link helpful:

Fat content of milk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[silconecook]

thanks everyone. well, i'm going to try to make a gratin with this creme legere semi epaisse. it's only 18%fat but it seems really quite thick. will post to let you guys know

 

[silconecook]

I made the gratin turned out fine even with the creme legere, the lowfat creme. It was tasty just not enough lardons.
here is a photo. thanks everyone.

 

[taxlady]

I made the gratin turned out fine even with the creme legere, the lowfat creme. It was tasty just not enough lardons.
here is a photo. thanks everyone.

Glad it turned out well.

What's the butterfat content of "crème légère"?

 

[Rocklobster]

What's the butterfat content of "crème légère"?

usually somewhere between 15% and 5%.

 

[menumaker]

Hi, I live here and still find it confusing!! Heavy cream is what I call 'Double' cream. The problem is it just doesn't taste the same. I now mix half whipping (fouette) and half mascopone which in my opinion gives a better result.

 

[Mad Cook]

i was trying to make a gratin and american recipes ask for heavy cream but i don't know what is heavy cream in france. tried google but it made me even more confused

what is creme legere semi epaisse? is this heavy cream?
what is creme entier?

thanks for your help.

There's a discussion on this on the Delia Smith forum. That's English (I mean as opposed to American) but it might be a jumping off point.