Cream vs. Milk: The Battle of Carbs

Here's an email I received with confusion whose source I never could quite figure out.

I'm a diabetic, so I really limit the carbs I consume in a day. That's how I stay off meds. I see that milk has quite a lot of carbs I suppose due to the lactose. But cream does not have a significant amount of carbs. So thats what I stick with. Why !! does cream not have carbs or lactose?? Is there some process that takes place in manufacturing the product that takes it out?? I really curious about this. I have found a half&half product that claims to have taken the fat out. So that's what I use. It claims to have very low carbs.

Milk, like most foods, really, is water plus small amounts of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

The carbohydrates in milk are all from the sugar, which is lactose. This is true for all forms of liquid milk, from skim milk to heavy cream. The only major difference is the amount of fat they contain. The lactose - carbohydrate - content is similar.

Whole milk 4.8%
Half-and-half 4.2%
Cream 3.9%

[The numbers are taken from my own Lactose Percentages page in my Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse.]

Not surprisingly, half-and-half - half milk and half cream - has a lactose content about halfway in between.

The difference between them in an ounce, which is about a splash of cream in coffee, would be about 1/4 of a gram. That's a really tiny amount.

Now, about the low fat half and half. That sounds oxymoronic, but such substitutes really exist, both in low fat and fat-free varieties. Here's an ingredients list for one such:

Nonfat milk, milk, corn syrup solids, artificial color, sugar, dipotassium phosphate, sodium citrate, mono and diglycerides, carageenan, natural and artificial flavors, vitamin A palmitate.

It's just fat-free milk bulked up with sugar - corn syrup solids, which means it may be lower fat, but would be higher in carbohydrates, not lower.

And this site has a direct nutritional comparison.

Half And Half (Land O Lakes)
Serving Size: 2Tbsp (30mL); Calories: 25, Total Fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 1g, Protein: 1g

Fat Free Half and Half (Land O Lakes)
Serving Size: 2 Tbsp; Calories: 20, Total Fat: 0g, Carbs: 3g, Protein: 1g

Just as I said. The amount of carbs increase in the fat free variety. You need to balance off the solids so that the fluid doesn't taste too watery. The half and half has 3.5 grams of solids; the fat free version has 4 grams of solids, just distributed differently.

Switching fat and sugar for all sugar isn't much of a bargain for anybody, and particularly not for a diabetic.

Always read the nutritional information given. It will save you in the end.

Ecological Ain't the Same As Good for You

I found this bizarre press release today.

When leaders of the 21 economies that comprise the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum formally launch their annual meeting Saturday, their greatest temptation might well be "Divine Sin." The "Divine Sin" in question is actually a cocktail that Peruvian expert Eladio Espinoza has created from two products that Peru is most proud of: Pisco, a liquor and chirimoya, a type of custard apple.

APEC leaders were to be offered the treat at lunch and dinner.

"All its ingredients are ecological, with a low content of alcohol, sugars and lactose, so that they can be taken by people who suffer from intolerance to lactose or diabetes," Espinoza said.

Peru, whose prestige in gastronomy is on a remarkable rise, sees the APEC summit as a chance to further enhance its reputation.

First, notice the claim that it's low in lactose. It's nice that people are thinking of us. That's a huge change from earlier years. But for Pete's sake. This is a cocktail. It contains liquor and fruit. Of course it doesn't have lactose. Neither does a martini or a daiquiri or a margarita. Or a hurricane or a screwdriver or a Long Island Iced Tea.

It's true that some liqueurs - not liquors - contain real cream. Irish Cream in all its variations is the prime example. And some cocktails are made with liqueurs added. A screaming orgasm is made with kahlua, amaretto, vodka, and Irish Cream. You can even find mixed drinks - I hope that not even the most rabid Sex and the City fan would dare call them cocktails - that have ice cream at their base.

Creme, it needs to be said, is not real cream. Creme de cassis, Creme de Noyaux, Crème de cacao, Creme de violette, and Creme de Menthe all do not contain any real cream. I can't guarantee whether all concoctions named creme are truly cream free, though. The drinksmixer.com site lists abominations like Creme De Cachaca, made with Irish Cream; Creme de Cafe, made with light cream; and Ponche De Creme, made with condensed milk.


Even so, liquor is milk-free and fruit is milk-free. I'm not sure who you think you're enticing.

My other peeve is calling a Divine Sin ecological. Perhaps the word is the victim of a bad translation from the Spanish. But remember folks, we're talking about a cocktail here. Liquor and fruit. I'd drink it. I'm not condemning the concept of a cocktail, though I don't drink many. Ecological may be many things to many people, but you're simply perverting the notion when you apply the term to a cocktail. With fruit or pure Pesco.

And where did this bizarre perversion of the Earth movement appear?

On The Earth Times Online Newspaper. The Earth Times, a environmental legend that has for years preached about ecology, sustainability, the green movement, organic products, and all the things that might cause some to label them as archetypal treehuggers. Pushing ecological Peruvian cocktails doesn't seem to fit in their mission statement.

We all make compromises for our causes. Some are subtle; others are all too obvious. I don't raise my drink in salute.

UPDATE: I thought the original article was bizarre. The follow-up is ten times so.

As I was writing this posting, President George W. Bush was in Peru for the 2008 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Here's an official picture of him from the festivities sounding the event.

That's pisco that he's drinking.

An amusing coicindence except for the fact that pisco is an alcoholic beverage. This has caused a huge flurry by the punditry and in the blogosphere.

With the cares of office soon to be behind him, has George Bush started drinking again? The US President, who gave up alcohol 22 years ago, has been dogged by a recent spate of rumours that he has gone back on the sauce, and while attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Peruvian capital Lima at the weekend he was photographed downing a glass of Pisco Sour (pictured), a brandy-like alcoholic drink.

It could be that Bush was unaware that Pisco Sour was alcoholic, or that he merely took a sip so as not offend his hosts – the beverage is the country's national drink – but drink it he did.

Anyone who has sampled a Pisco Sour will know it needs to be approached with extreme caution. It was invented in the 1920s as a variation of the whiskey sour by an American expatriate called Victor V. ‘Gringo’ Morris at the Morris Bar in Lima, and packs quite a punch.

It can't be satire. Satire is obsolete before it gets written these days.

A Field Guide to Creams of the World

Milk gets talked about a lot. Cream is mostly orphaned these days, homogenized into milk so that it doesn't float to the top, banished from diners in favor of half-and-half creamers, and discouraged by the anti-fat brigade.

Cooks have always known that some cream products enhance specialty desserts. And, as I show in my Really Big List of Lactose Percentages page on my website, the more fat a dairy product has, the lower its lactose percentage. Let's take a look at an article by Lisa Abraham at Ohio.com on the various species of cream products.

To be called cream, a product must have at least 18 percent milk fat. ...

In recipes, cream adds fat, but it also adds a velvety texture to a wide variety of foods, most notably soups, sauces and desserts.

There are even fattier creams, found more commonly in Europe, but available at specialty food stores and some grocery stores here. Among them are clotted cream, sometimes called Devon or Devonshire cream, and double cream. ...

Double cream is a British term used to describe heavy cream that is 48 percent or more milk fat. It's just heavier heavy cream than what we typically get in the United States.

Clotted cream, also British, is made from unpasteurized milk which has been slowly heated, allowing a layer of cream to rise to the top and ferment, according to the Food Encyclopedia. Once cooled, the thickened, yellowish cream is skimmed off this is clotted cream.

We're most familiar with clotted cream slathered on top of scones and then topped with jam, English-style. It's also called Devon or Devonshire cream when it comes from Devonshire County in England.

However, according to the Food Encyclopedia, there is a difference. Traditional clotted cream is 55 percent milk fat, while Devonshire cream is about 48 percent milk fat, making it spoonable, as opposed to spreadable. ...

Creme fraiche This is a European favorite that is becoming increasingly popular in U.S. cooking. Its name in French means "fresh cream." Similar to sour cream, but a bit thinner and not quite as sour, it's used similarly to sour cream.

Those extra fatty creams probably have no more than half the lactose of regular milk.

Abraham also gives some cooking hints and recipes for the proper use of creams.