MORE DAIRY
Dairy products made from Real California Milk provides more creativity for restaurant chefs and foodservice operators. The wide range of cultured dairy, frozen dairy, and fluid dairy available will keep your customers satisfied and ordering more.
Interesting Ingredients Make Menu Items Better
CULTURED DAIRY
Thanks to their health benefits, versatility and real dairy flavor, these products can broaden the flavors you can deliver to customers.
Sour Cream
Crema
Crème Fraîche
Yogurt
Cream Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Kefir
Facts
- Yogurt's health benefits go beyond the protein, calcium, vitamins B-2 and B-12, and potassium; it’s recognized today as a source of probiotics for healthy digestion.
- The three popular varieties of yogurt – Greek, Icelandic and Australian – are all richer and creamier than traditional yogurt due to differences in straining and cooking.
- Cottage cheese is made by adding an acid, such as vinegar, or a lactic-acid bacterial culture to pasteurized milk, which separates the milk solids from the liquid whey.
- Cottage cheese is a great source of protein, riboflavin, calcium, and B vitamins.
- While sour cream has at least 18 percent fat, reduced-fat sour cream contains 25 percent less fat; this light version has less butterfat than regular sour cream.
- Crème fraîche is less acidic than buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. It's a chef's secret that in soups and sauces. Crème fraîche and sour cream are interchangeable in recipes.
Storage & Handling
- Store yogurt, sour cream, crema, and creme fraiche in a refrigerator set at 38°–40°F in the container in which it was sold.
- Sour cream stays fresh for 2-3 weeks after it’s been opened.
- Freezing yogurt is not recommended.
- Sour cream can be frozen, though freezing may slightly change its texture.
- Discard any cultured dairy product that has become moldy.
Back-of-house
- Chefs recognize that yogurt is an important part of many regional cuisines, including Mediterranean, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, East Indian, and Chinese.
- Yogurt can be used as a flavorful, calcium-rich addition to dips, dressings, shakes, and soups.
- Yogurt tenderizes the protein in flour, resulting in soft-to-the-bite muffins, pastries or cakes.
- Cottage cheese is anything but plain, providing an interesting platform for savory and sweet creations.
- Chefs also add cottage cheese to blue cheese dressing to create a chunky texture at a lower cost and with fewer calories.
- Sour cream’s versatility is a natural way to make quick dips and dressings, thicken soups and sauces and, of course, can be as a condiment.
- Crème fraîche is the ideal flavorful addition for sauces, soups, meats, fish, and desserts because it can be boiled and reduced without curdling.
Front-of-house
- Yogurt is a popular meal, snack, and condiment.
- Although delicious on its own, yogurt is often topped with granola, fresh orange pieces, dark chocolate, pistachios, fresh pineapple, toasted coconut, and more.
- A recent California Milk Advisory Board consumer survey found that 71% of Americans have a favorable sentiment about cottage cheese.
- Sour cream is the Real California dairy staple that “cools” spicy Mexican-American cuisine such as tacos and chili with its rich, creamy tang.
- Crème fraîche is a delicious topping that adds a burst of flavor to a variety of appetizers, sides, and desserts.
FROZEN DAIRY
Ice cream (hard-frozen or soft serve) is one of Americans’ most popular indulgences. It’s the ultimate comfort food – the go-to choice after a long day at the office or school. Add frozen yogurt and gelato made with Real California Milk to the mix and you’ll cover all your customer’s cravings.
Ice Cream
Frozen Yogurt
Gelato
Facts
- The most popular ice cream flavors in the nation are vanilla, chocolate, cookies ‘n cream, and mint chocolate chip.
- Ice cream is an energy-dense food, high in protein; it also provides small doses of calcium and numerous vitamins including A and D.
- Like ice cream, gelato has a base of milk, cream, and sugar. It generally contains more milk than cream, which results in a lower percentage of butterfat and more intense flavor.
- Gelato is churned at a slower speed than ice cream, resulting in a denser product because less air is whipped into the mixture.
- Frozen yogurt has become a foodservice favorite. It is made by freezing a mixture of pasteurized milk (with or without other milk products), flavorings, seasonings, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and lactic acid cultures.
- Frozen yogurt contains live cultures, which are dormant while frozen. Counts vary from 10 million to over 1 billion per gram, depending on the product. Nonfat, lowfat and full-fat varieties of frozen yogurt are available.
Storage & Handling
- Store ice cream in a sealed container in the freezer, set at 0°F.
- The “best used by” date stamped on some ice cream cartons tells you how long the product will be at top eating quality.
- To soften ice cream, transfer to the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes before serving.
- After serving ice cream, gelato, or frozen yogurt, return the carton to the freezer immediately to help prevent ice crystals.
- Ice cream is typically served frozen, but gelato is stored and served at a slightly warmer temperature, around 15°F, so it’s not completely frozen.
- Foodservice operators generally serve gelato in showcases with pans displaying six to 24 flavors. Authentic gelato isn’t scooped, it’s served with a spade.
- Frozen yogurt is manufactured fresh and then immediately frozen. If kept frozen, the yogurt has a shelf life of up to two years.
- The storage temperature should be kept at about -15°F.
- To thaw frozen yogurt, refrigerate at 33°F to 38°F for 72 hours. Use within 14 days from the start of thawing. Once the product is thawed, shake well and pour into frozen yogurt machine.
- Once product is in the frozen yogurt machine, shelf life is approximately 5 days.
Front-of-house
- Business-minded foodservice operators covering all categories would do well to stock ice cream for their patrons.
- Many restaurants offer Real California ice cream as part of dessert menus or in carry-out settings with multiple topping options.
- Milkshakes have a strong following, too, as nothing is more gratifying on a hot summer day or night.
- Soft serve tastes best when the flavor is light and the texture is rich.
- The most popular display in many Italian restaurants is the showcase in a prominent spot near the front counter or main dining area.
- Foodservice operators at non-Italian independent restaurants are also including gelato on dessert menus.
- Upsell desserts by adding gelato, as it gives customers the impression the dessert is special and worth the price.
Cream & Buttermilk
Buttermilk brings a low-fat tang to dressings, baked goods and more. Cream brings a smooth, luxurious mouthfeel to soups, sauces, baked goods, and desserts. Coffee wouldn’t be the same without heavy cream or half and half.
Half and Half
Heavy Cream
Buttermilk
Facts
- Traditionally, buttermilk was the low-fat portion of milk or cream remaining after it had been churned to make butter. These days, buttermilk is made from nonfat or low-fat milk “cultured” with lactic acid bacteria. Cultured buttermilk is low in fat and calories but maintains its characteristic tangy flavor and creamy texture.
- The culture in cultured buttermilk is Streptococcus lactis, which acidifies and thickens the buttermilk. Leuconostoc citrovorum cultures may also enhance buttermilk’s butter (diacetyl) flavor.
- To be called cream, a product must contain at least 18% milkfat.
- Cream naturally separates from milk because its fat is less dense than fluid milk. In mechanical cream production, centrifuge separators force the cream to the surface of milk during spinning.
- Once separated, most cream is pasteurized.
- In the production of whipped cream, the pressurized gas or nitrous oxide found in aerosol cans or small replaceable canisters helps produce a light, fluffy product.
Storage & Handling
- Store buttermilk in a refrigerator set at 38°–40°F in the container in which it was sold.
- The “sell by” date stamped on buttermilk containers tells you how long the retail store can keep the product for sale on the shelf.
- Buttermilk may separate as it sits, so shake well before using.
- Store cream in a refrigerator set at 38°–40°F in the container in which it was sold.
- The “sell by” date stamped on cream containers tells you how long the retail store can keep the product for sale on the shelf.
- Ultrapasteurized cream keeps several weeks longer, as indicated by the stamped date. Once opened, handle ultrapasteurized cream as you would pasteurized cream.
- To ensure freshness, do not return unused light cream or half-and-half to its original container.
- Freezing is not recommended for unwhipped cream; once whipped, place dollops on waxed paper and then freeze.
Back-of-house
- When making dressings and sauces with buttermilk (such as ranch, blue cheese, and slaw dressings), “reinforce them” with a small amount of powdered buttermilk. You’ll get extra-tangy buttermilk flavor with a thicker, creamier texture.
- In baked goods, buttermilk’s natural acidity creates a rich, tangy flavor and tender crumb that bakers often prefer over commercial baking powder.
- Buttermilk’s acid, as a component of marinades, tenderizes meat and poultry.
- Buttermilk adds low-fat creaminess and flavor to soups, salad dressings, and sauces and can be used as a substitute for yogurt or mayonnaise in some recipes.
- Don’t forget the buttermilk in Southern favorites like biscuits, buttermilk pie, and classic cornbread.
- Because of its low-fat and high-protein content, buttermilk may curdle during preparation. Heat gradually and stir gently.
- To avoid curdling in hot dishes, add cream as late in the preparation as possible, heating gradually and stirring gently. The acid in citrus, wine, and even coffee can curdle cream, especially at high temperatures.
- Brush heavy cream onto the surface of pastries and breads for a rich, golden crust.
- When whipping, choose a cream that’s high in fat for best results—heavy whipping cream increases more in volume than light whipping cream does.
- Chill the cream, bowl, and beaters well to promote successful whipping.
- Add other ingredients, such as sugar or vanilla, near the end of whipping.