Whipping Cream And Expiration Date

Decorating By singsing Updated 25 Dec 2008 , 8:28am by ceshell

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singsing Posted 23 Dec 2008 , 9:48pm
post #1 of 4

I have some whipping cream that has an expiration of today. I know some products are fine past expiration but of course you don't know till you open it.. Anyway I was wondering if once it's incorporated in something is the expiration the same? or does the sugar etc. change that. I was thinking of making some ganache which I want to put on a cake on Thursday (my son's birthday). Would cooking it to make the ganache change anything? I know I would be more safe to use fresh, and I have some on hand but I don't want to waste this stuff. I am such a not waster (junk collector) I will have to make a pie for the neighbors for today or something if saving it doesn't work. Which I really don't want to do, I am too tired to do EXTRA baking.

3 replies
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ceshell Posted 24 Dec 2008 , 9:02am
post #2 of 4

I wonder if you ever figured this out?! If you are using heavy whipping cream, it is often good well past the expiration date, due to the high fat content. Of course I am not a food safety expert, just a home baker, so you must take my advice with a grain of salt. Personally I just test it, if it tastes good and does not taste like it is about to "turn," and also if it's unopened or only just opened like a day ago, I'll use it. I scald it for 1 minute on the stove before making ganache out of it.

I would think if you made a cooked pie there would be even less of an issue, I mean think of meat, if you cook it the day before it "expires" your *cooked* meat will not share the same expiration date as the raw meat.

You are only talking about two days past expiration, not a week or some outlandish timeline. If it were me, I'd use it...but that might be just me! I hope I am not being horribly irresponsible for passing along my opinion icon_redface.gif

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stephaniescakenj Posted 24 Dec 2008 , 2:02pm
post #3 of 4

I'm wondering this same thing as well. My chocolate buttercream calls for a little heavy cream and without even thinking I've use heavy cream on the cusp of expiration... should I worry about using that buttercream a week later if its been in the fridge the whole time? I keep buying heavy cream for icing and I only use a little bit of it, by the time I have occasion to use it again, it's expired and I have to go buy another container and that stuff is so expensive!
I wonder if you could freeze it too?

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ceshell Posted 25 Dec 2008 , 8:28am
post #4 of 4

You can freeze heavy cream! I do not know if you can whip it again to make WHIPPED cream, but you can use it in cooked foods i.e. ganache, soups, etc. I tried it in dressing once with mixed results; the cream separated, but the dressing still tasted fine...so I am not too sure about saving it to pour into icing, whether or not it would affect the texture of your icing. I'm assuming that when you boil it that somehow fixes the separation problem, but I couldn't possibly explain that lol.

If the cream was about to expire AND you were going to leave the icing around for a whole week, well then I'd start to get a little worried. I mean, the sugar and fat act as a preservative, but a whole week...well, I would call upon the food scientists for advice! My cream usually lasts about a week after expiration...I don't know if the sugar would extend the shelf life. What about making the icing and FREEZING it for the week...?

OMG it is CHRISTMAS already, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! icon_biggrin.gif

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