Whipped Cream Mystery

[PianoAl]

We have a cream whipper similar to the one shown below. The problem is that the cream goes bad quickly in the whipper. For example, we'll load it with ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream that won't expire for over a month. But after just a week, the whipped cream starts to taste sour. The HWC in the carton is still fine. It doesn't matter whether we add any sweetener or vanilla to the cream.

We've tried different manufacturers of cartridges, always with the same result. We clean the whipper thoroughly, and put it right back in the fridge after use.

Anyone know what's going on?

 

[Alix]

You just crammed a bunch of air into a liquid, increasing the surface area of things that could potentially go bad, thus your time frame decreases dramatically.

If you put the stuff in a whipper, you have just over a day or so to use it up.

 

[Steve Kroll]

All "pasteurized" or "ultra-pasteurized" means is that at the milk is aseptically packaged and heated to kill most pathogens. As long as the package remains unopened, the contents will stay fresh. However, once the milk is open and comes in contact with air, all bets are off. If you keep it in its original container, seal it up, and refrigerate immediately after using, it will still keep fairly long. The problem here is that you have introduced it into a container that isn't sterile and added bacteria-saturated air into it. Thus, it begins to spoil.

 

[Andy M.]

What they said.

Can you put a smaller amount of cream in at one time so there isn't as much leftover?

 

[jennyema]

AIR

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Wow! You guys are amazing. I wouldn't have thought of the air, as I'd have assumed that CO2 would have been used to pressurize the unit. But it makes absolute sense. I mean, it's the yeast spores in the air that multiply in a flour slurry to make sour dough.

I learn something new often on DC. Too cool.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[justplainbill]

Wow! You guys are amazing. I wouldn't have thought of the air, as I'd have assumed that CO2 would have been used to pressurize the unit. But it makes absolute sense. I mean, it's the yeast spores in the air that multiply in a flour slurry to make sour dough.

I learn something new often on DC. Too cool.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

+1

 

[bakechef]

Yup, what everyone else has said. The original sell-by date only applies to an unopened package.

To get maximum shelf life after opening you have to handle everything very clean, and keep it (if required) cold, but it will never likely make it to the original shelf life stamped on the package.

Ultra pasteurized is great for extending shelf life, once opened, I do find that it lasts longer, but not a month or more as the package states.

 

[CWS4322]

I am always amazed at the depth of knowledge here. I too learn s/thing new on DC every day. Can I do +3?

 

[gadzooks]

It's not "air," it's nitrous oxide. That aside, when restaurants use those whipped cream chargers, at least around here, they empty them at the end of the day and wash them.

 

[PianoAl]

What they said.

Can you put a smaller amount of cream in at one time so there isn't as much leftover?

Yes, and that's what we do. It means wasting a bit of the nitrous, of course.

 

[Kylie1969]

I would want to use it all at once, I would not like to leave it in there

 

[Oldvine]

Is the inside of the whipper as sterile as the inside of the carton?