LITTLE ROCK — DEAR HELOISE: What are the differences in heavy cream, light cream and whipping cream?
- A Reader, via e-mail
DEAR READER: There is a lot of difference, and it’s mostly fat and calories.Heavy cream has 36 percent to 40 percent butterfat; light cream has 18 percent to 30 percent butterfat (most often it contains 20 percent); andwhipping cream has 30 percent butterfat.
Cream rises to the surface of whole milk and is labeled according to the butterfat content. Heavy cream, used in baked goods as filling or frosting, doubles in volume and holds its shape well when whipped. Light cream usually is added to coffee or other hot drinks in place of milk.
Whipping cream doesn’t whip or hold its shape as well, so it most often is used as a filling.
DEAR READERS: When using canned beans in a recipe, do you drain and rinse the beans before adding them, or just drain them? The brine from a can of beans is a great way to add flavor to your dish. However, if you are watching your sodium intake, rinsing the beans after draining can cut the sodium.
DEAR HELOISE: My family loves to have a pizzaand-game night once a week. To keep costs down, we started making pizza. It is a lot of fun mixing all types of ingredients and never making the same pizza twice.
Pepperoni is one of our favorite toppings. Not liking how greasy the pepperoni is, especially after cooking, I came up with this hint. I place a single layer of pepperoni in the microwave, on paper towels, microwave for about 30 seconds and then put it on the pizza to cook. There still is some grease, but it seems like a lot less.
- Julie D., Colorado Springs, Colo.
DEAR HELOISE: A lot of recipes call for you to place the lid on a pot, but with the lid slightly ajar for venting steam. I was having a particularly hard time doing this with one lid, until I took a binder clip and clipped it to the side of the pot. This allowed me to set the lid on top of it and keep the lid from falling down.
- Denise D., Fort Wayne, Ind.
DEAR READER: Please use caution when removing the binder clip, because it may be hot!
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail
Food, Pages 42 on 05/23/2012