Creams
Clotted Cream and Double Cream - Jean A.
Natural Fromage Frais - Lois
Single Cream - Elizabeth Wild
Swithin Cream
Cream Around the World
Cream in Australia - Kerry Webb
Cream in the United States - Mark Greenlaw
Sugars
Castor Sugar in Australia and New Zealand
Castor Sugar - David MacGuire
Castor Sugar - Elizabeth Wild
Creams
Clotted Cream and Double Cream - Jean A.
Here is The Joy of Cooking's take on clotted cream:
Clotted cream, a speciality of Devonshire, England, is a thick cream. To make clotted cream at home, use unpasteurized cream. Let fresh cream stand for 12 hours in winter or 6 hours in summer and then put on low heat until rings form on the surface, but the cream does not boil. This heating will sterilize the cream. Store in a cold place for at least 12 hours. Skim the thick clotted cream from the surface to serve as a garnish for fresh fruits. (I know you can buy it in jars or cans.)
As for double cream, I have already confessed that while in England I used to spoon it from the carton, and can attest that it is much thicker than what we know as whipping cream or heavy cream here in the US.
Natural Fromage Frais - Lois
Someone asked:
What is "natural fromage frais"? "Fresh natural cheese" don't seem to do it.
Lois replies:
We don't have an equivalent. But mixing whipped cream and sour cream makes a close second.
Single Cream - Elizabeth Wild
My preference is for single, or pouring cream, rather than what we call double cream, which has a stiffer consistency. Double cream can be whipped, and it's what you'd use for a syllabub, for instance, or a fool, or mousse or anything that needs to set when it's cooled. Pouring cream doesn't do anything fancy except be cream.
Swithin Cream
(To eat with apple wedges, on Chardwardon, or on dark bread)
2 large lemons
10 yellow dandelion flowers or golden squash blossoms
1/8 tsp. salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar
Finely grind lemon rind and set aside. Remove dandelion petals, and cut them (or squash blossoms) into tiny pieces. Gently mix with lemon rind. Whip cream with rotary beater, adding salt and sugar until thick peaks form. Carefully mix petals into cream.
Cream Around the World
Cream in Australia - Kerry Webb
Cream here is, well, cream. The yummy stuff that floats at the top of the milk. When it's sold as cream, it's around 25% fat. It's my understanding that "cream" in North America has a much lower fat percentage (Britannica says that the cream commonly served with coffee in the US is around 18% butterfat).
If I was feeling particularly sinful, I'd put a little of our cream in my coffee, but not as a matter of course. And never in my tea. Milk is what I'd use for that.
Cream in the United States - Mark Greenlaw
I think that most of the "cream" put in coffee in the US would be half-and-half which is between 10.5% and 18% butterfat, it being a mix of milk and cream. There are several types of cream in the US.
Half-and-half 10.5 to 18 (which isn't cream by law)
Light cream 18 to 30
Light whipping cream 30 to 36
Heavy whipping cream more than 36 percent fat
Sugars
Castor Sugar in Australia and New Zealand
In New Zealand and Australia, there are three grades of powdered white sugar. There is "regular", then there is "castor", then there is "icing" sugar. Castor sugar has smaller crystals than regular sugar, but isn't as small or powdery as icing sugar.
Castor Sugar - David MacGuire
Caster sugar is a large grained sugar. Most of it comes from our old friend Mauritius. It usually has a bit of a tan or golden color and contains more minerals and vitamins than more refined superfine. You can usually find it in specialty foods stores, but the "Sugar in the Raw" brand that you can find in just about any market is pretty close in taste and texture.
Castor Sugar - Elizabeth Wild
Castor sugar is just finer than the ordinary white granulated sugar. The ordinary stuff will do, but will just take slightly longer to dissolve, that's all.
Which it's the Patrick O'Brian list of the world!