Cream is eaten in a wide variety of ways. There are drinking cream, thick sweet mixes, dry options. This category of food is usually high in calories. However, the best option for those who monitor their weight is a separate category of cream - vegetable.
Composition of vegetable cream
Vegetable cream is an emulsion containing mainly stabilizers, vegetable fats and oils. The taste of a traditional product is almost completely preserved, but this kind of cream is considered a kind of low-calorie substitute for the natural version.
Vegetable cream is produced in both liquid and dry form. Regardless of the consistency, the composition of such a product, as a rule, remains unchanged. The only difference is in the way the ingredients are processed.
In ordinary cream, the fat phase exceeds the water phase, due to which there is a richness of taste, density of the composition and increased calorie content. In a vegetable product, on the contrary, the aqueous phase is 70%, and of the natural ingredients, only sugar and oils are used, which give the emulsion a milk-like appearance.
The most common vegetable oils used to make cream are coconut, palm or soybean oils. Milk and dairy products are not present in this case. Due to the use of herbal additives, the shelf life of vegetable cream is several times higher than that of natural products.
Vegetable cream is often used in the manufacture of certain drinks, as well as diet sweets.
Vegetable cream making process
Vegetable fats and oils used to prepare vegetable cream are initially partially hydrogenated. This process is required to convert the liquid emulsion to solid fatty acids. Then the resulting mixture is combined with dyes, thickeners, emulsifiers, sugars and preservatives.
Some manufacturers make vegetable cream based on milk protein. These products taste more like thick milk.
Benefits of vegetable cream
Vegetable cream is especially popular in cooking and is becoming an integral part of numerous diets. It is very beneficial to use such a product. For example, when whipping vegetable cream with a mixer, their volume increases several times. Their relatively neutral taste makes them suitable for the preparation of both sweet and meat dishes. Often, the product becomes an ingredient in the preparation of sauces and salad dressings.
One of the most significant advantages of vegetable cream is the reduced calorie content. It is thanks to these properties that the product can be eaten even by those who carefully monitor their figure and are afraid of the appearance of extra pounds because of the love of sweets.
Disadvantages of vegetable cream
Some experts consider vegetable cream to be unhealthy. This is explained primarily by the increased content of preservatives. Eating such foods too often is not recommended. Vegetable cream is cheaper and more economical than natural, but there are practically no useful components in them.
