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| Leftover cream frozen in the container on the right. |
I love half and half (or 18% coffee cream) in my coffee each morning. Sometimes I end up with extra. I researched online and every site said the butterfat in half and half would separate during freezing, making it undesirable for use in coffee. I hate to waste, so I started to experiment.
I learned to mix the half and half with some milk (we use 1%) before freezing and it helped reduce the separation, but it wasn't perfect.
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| Separated butterfat shows on the sides of the container. |
Then one evening I used thawed half and half in hot cocoa. I discovered that the lumps disappeared. So the next time I froze my half and half and milk mixture, I heated it after thawing.
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| Heating and whisking the thawed half and half did the trick. |
I put the thawed half and half and milk mixture in a saucepan, brought it to a gentle boil, and held it there for two minutes. I whisked it vigorously during the heating process. I let the half and half cool and then put it in a container to return to the refrigerator. The results were better than expected, no more lumps of butterfat rising to the top of my coffee cup.
Do you freeze half and half to reuse in coffee? How do you do it? -- Margy
Labels:
Cooking,
Preserving
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Very interesting - though I don't drink coffee or use much half and half - and when I do it is usually in a pudding or something similar and I use it all up. Having grown up in Alaska where the milk was frozen for the two week trip from Seattle - I hated the little lumps in the milk - wish we'd known about this way back then - but then I doubt my mother would have taken the time. At least the frozen milk was better than the diluted canned milk we had to drink before we moved to town. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI can used canned in a pinch for coffee, but it's fine for cooking. Getting supplies up in Alaska was such a challenge then. - Margy
DeleteThis all sounds very useful, but what on earth is half and half. I think that old language difference has popped up here again! Xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's what we use mostly for coffee, half milk and half light cream put together. It's about 12% butterfat. In Canada I can get Coffee Cream which is 18% and I like that even better. - Margy
DeleteNo suggestions for you as I don't drink coffee or use half and half. Good that you have figured out a way to freeze and reuse it.
ReplyDeleteI just use canned carnation! You have such fun on your houseboat!
ReplyDeleteI keep canned milk on hand for cooking and emergencies, but I do love the taste of cream in my coffee. - Margy
DeleteI don't use half and half much if at all so I have no problem.. thank goodness.
ReplyDeletesorry you have a nasty cold. Hope it goes away RIGHT NOW!!
MB
I don't use it anymore. I drink my coffee black now. It actually tastes better without the cream.
ReplyDelete