Cooking With Cream

A versatile ingredient used in kitchens globally, cream can be utilised to create everything from sweet and savoury sauces to forming the base of many desserts and patisserie. It’s great drizzled over a hot pudding, spooned atop soup or poured over baked fish, creating smooth textures and rich flavours. We journey to France to discover how cream is made and why the country’s product is of the best in the world.

- Sophie McCarrick

Cream, an ingredient used in so many recipes. From filling and topping cakes to creating creamy sauces for savoury, popular dishes like carbonara, we use cream a lot in the kitchen. But, have you ever wondered what goes into the creation of high-quality cream before it reaches you at the supermarket?

Recently we travelled to France, where the dairy industry is one of the country’s biggest economies. The production of cream is big business for the nation, and the French take great pride in the quality of their product – which has been recognised globally.

What makes French cream so good? It all starts with milk – very, very good milk. In order to get such a high standard of milk, you need happy cows, and to have happy cows, the animals must be treated correctly and kept in the right conditions – both of which France have mastered.

In coastal areas of France such as Normandy and Brittany – home to popular dairy brands like Paysan Breton and Isigny Ste Mere – conditions are humid with a mild climate, the soil is rich and fertile, and pastures for grazing are of exceptionally high quality, which is turn keeps cows well-nourished and content (stress-free cow = good milk!).