As the name itself suggests, heavy cream should obviously be at least fairly thick – otherwise, using it might not end up precisely well. But with that being said, this wouldn’t mean that you would have to throw your heavy cream away the moment you find it has gotten thinner.
That’s because, fortunately, there are some ways to fix this issue – here come our best tips for how to get heavy cream to thicken:
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How to get heavy cream to thicken?
Opening up a box of heavy cream just to find out that it is not very thick might be very disappointing. However, do you know that in many cases, this doesn’t mean you have to throw the heavy cream out?
As long as there are no other signs of spoilage, like disgusting odor or a mold growing, you can still thicken your heavy cream to make it usable again. Here are some ways how to do so:
Refrigerate it
One of the simplest ways you can assure your heavy cream will be thickening is by keeping it cold. Hence, always keep your heavy cream inside the fridge; everything should be alright. However, if the cream has already become not thickening, you’ll most likely have to use some other method.
Add flour
That can be, for instance, mixing the heavy cream with flour – however, remember that by doing so, you might slightly alter the final product’s taste. That said, though, this option is very quick and safe, and it doesn’t require you to do anything besides mixing the heavy cream with the flour.
Well, it obviously isn’t just as simple as that because if you don’t want your heavy cream to thicken too much, you’ll have to be very careful and add only a little bit at a time until you’re satisfied with its texture. Additionally, you should be adding a bit of water with the flour, ideally mixing the flour into it before actually pouring it all into the bowl with heavy cream.
Add gelatin
If you cannot use flour for any reason, try thickening the heavy cream by mixing it with some tasteless gelatin. The process is nearly the same because even for mixing gelating into the heavy cream, you’ll have to be very careful and add just a tiny bit of it at a time. And although this doesn’t have to be always the case, with most kinds of gelatin, you should, too, be using water.
Add cornstarch
But what if not even gelatin is suitable for you? Well, then you can use cornstarch. Once again, the process of mixing it into the heavy cream is pretty simple – first, mix the cornstarch with some water, and then slowly pour in this mixture until you’re satisfied with the results.
Boil it
And if you don’t want to mix the heavy cream with anything, there’s a way for you as well. At the end of this table, we will introduce you to a method completely opposite to the one we started with – to get heavy cream to thicken; you can also try to boil it.
While doing so, you have to be very patient and careful, though, and whisk the cream throughout the whole process; otherwise, it could easily get burnt.
Why is my heavy cream not thickening?
So now you know how to get your heavy cream to thicken – but what was the reason it wasn’t thickening in the first place? Well, there are multiple possible reasons, but the by far most common one is that you are not refrigerating it. Similarly, your heavy cream can also not become thickening when you put it in a far too hot bowl.
How long does it take for heavy cream to thicken?
The time it takes for heavy cream to thicken depends on what method of thickening you decide to use – while by putting flour or cornstarches in, you’ll get it to thicken nearly instantly. On the other hand, if you decide to use the boiling method, it will take something around half an hour or so, depending on how much of heavy cream we’re talking about.
Summary
If you forget to refrigerate it, heavy cream can very easily become too thin, which makes it nearly unusable. But with that being said, as long as there are no signs of actual spoilage, this can still be fixed. The only thing you’ll need to do to get heavy cream to thicken is to mix it with flour or cornstarches.
Since many people argue that these things alter the taste of the heavy cream, though, you can also try using flavorless gelatine. And if you don’t have any, you can also just boil the heavy cream, which should make it thicken again as well.
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Image credits – Canva
