[Transglutaminase]

Picked up what is referred to here as "whipping cream" just a cup..well, the price has skyrocketed and guess what?
Smaller packaging! Not even a cup! (250 ml? - not anymore!)
And is it real cream? NO.. it needs carrageenan to "thicken" it.
I'll need an even larger cooler for the next US trip!
/end bitch

 

[brianshaw]

That actually looks quite familiar to me. Our familiar (US) half pint, or 8 ounces, or 237 ml. I don’t ever recall it being a 250 ml half pint here.

I know most of our fresh and sour cream products contain carrageenan, presumably to maintain textural consistency. But I think it’s still real cream as the naming/labeling requirement is based in butterfat content, which I really wish was specified on the label like yours does. Canada gets that part right!

 

[chrislehrer]

Yes I think you're starting to get what we in the US have had for years. Not good!

 

[summer57]

Picked up what is referred to here as "whipping cream" just a cup..well, the price has skyrocketed and guess what?
Smaller packaging! Not even a cup! (250 ml? - not anymore!)
And is it real cream? NO.. it needs carrageenan to "thicken" it.
I'll need an even larger cooler for the next US trip!
/end bitch
View attachment 116497 View attachment 116498

You don't have to buy Lucerne. Another local option for cream is Avalon: whipping cream is 36% MF, 100% dairy. Plus, it comes in a nice returnable 250 ml glass bottle.
Just don't buy Lucerne, get another brand.
(US milk is said to contain hormones/antibiotics not found in Canadian milk, but I doubt it makes a difference. Millions of Americans have clearly survived drinking it.)

 

[foodpump]

Of course dairy prices have gone up! Feed prices, fuel prices, and a tight labour market have all gone up, ergo dairy prices go up.

Here in B.C. normal 32% whipping cream has had carrageenan in it for as long as I can remember, but 36% doesn’t. However 36% is very hard to find retail, and impossible in sizes smaller than 1 liter, with 4 litre being the norm.

Haven’t been in the U.S. milk in well over 10 years, but I am curious to see the ingredient list and nutritional label on 2%, 3.5%/****, and “ whipping cream” packaging....

 

[foodpump]

Uh.. the 4 asterixes should read homogenized, which is universally accepted as “ ****” when describing dairy products. This is not a slight or reference to some who might find this spelling insensitive or malicious.

 

[summer57]

I went to Seattle in June, and was quite horrified at the prices, because, no surprise, they've also gone. In contrast, the price of a big bottle of vodka was very affordable. I used to shop at a little border town near me for US-only items like King Arthur flour etc., and milk, but even there, the prices aren't worth it.

On the other hand, you can get 250 gm organic butter for $1.57 at the Vancouver area Freshco stores this week.

 

[french fries]

Wait, they add milk to your cream? Add a thickener, and sell it for the price of cream?

 

[summer57]

I know most of our fresh and sour cream products contain carrageenan, presumably to maintain textural consistency. But I think it’s still real cream as the naming/labeling requirement is based in butterfat content, which I really wish was specified on the label like yours does. Canada gets that part righ

Wait, they add milk to your cream? Add a thickener, and sell it for the price of cream?

As @brianshaw said, most US brands add thickeners and milk to get the butterfat to the correct level. In Canada, though, they list it on the label. That's the difference.
However, here in BC, and I assume in the US, you can get dairy products without carrageenan, which is seaweed so not a big deal. But - you pay more for it.

 

[chrislehrer]

I have read -- which means it might not be true, though it makes sense -- that US brands tend to use a carrageenan largely so that they can ultra-pasteurize and the stuff will still have a thick, creamy mouthfeel (and in the case of heavy cream will still whip easily). Personally, I find it very difficult to get cream that doesn't have carrageenan, and not easy to get cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized, so I've long assumed that this claim is true. It also fits well with the fact that US dairy products tend to go from the farmer to a series of processors a long way away from the farm and then back to the consumer, such that in Vermont, for example, your milk may be "local" but has actually traveled to upstate New York or even Pennsylvania along the way... which of course means a huge shipping and refrigeration expense that gets passed on to the consumer.