Whipping cream

recently whipped cream, sticking to the agitator, that whipped it.

Whipped cream is traditionally applied on top of desserts

Consumers can purchase cream that is whipped by high pressured propellant gas.

Whipping cream is a dairy product. Traditionally heavy cream is used, a cream with a high percentage of butterfat. To make, or "whip" the cream, it is very rapidly stirred with an agitator that rapidly enters into and out of the cream, leaving a trail of air. The high butter fat turns the cream into a light froth. Traditionally sugar and vanilla are added to the cream, prior to whipping.

In 1948 a dairy product, called "reddi-wip" became available to consumers. It packaged cream, mixed with sugar and vanilla, in a can also filled with a propellant gas, under pressure. The cans are equipped with a spring loaded valve. When the valve is opened a stream of cream emerges, and when it is no longer under pressure, the propellant gas comes out of solution, instantly expanding the cream. Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is the propellant of choice, as it is non-toxic and does not add a taste of its own.

In modern food preparation, artificial substitutes for whipping cream are often used, instead of whipping cream, for two reasons. First, whipping cream is relatively expensive; second, the bubbles that keep whipped cream frothy are not that stable. They burst. When the cream is no longer cool, they burst faster.