Generality
There vegetable cream it is a food belonging to the V group, which includes all seasoning fats.
The term vegetable cream can be used to indicate: vegetable cream And vegetable whipping cream (sweetened or "natural" - so to speak!); they are both processed with the UHT (Ultra High Temperature) preservation system, therefore they do not appear in the refrigerated cabinet, but on the shelves at room temperature. Vegetable cream is often the subject of numerous controversies; to "put their beak", offering different points of view, are mainly: kitchen technicians - pastry chefs, non-specialized doctors, dieticians - nutritionists - dieticians.
Vegetable cream: what is it made of?
Vegetable cream, as the name suggests, is a product that contains ingredients of plant origin. Unfortunately, contrary to what many neo-vegans are led to believe, this predominance does NOT exclude the possibility that even small quantities of animal-type ingredients are present; specifically the sodium caseinate (E469). Only recently, once the catch was discovered, some companies have started producing types of vegetable cream without ingredients of animal origin (which generally also satisfy the criterion of the Organic specification). Readers will think that, after all, this is not a particularly "scandalous" misunderstanding; Unfortunately, however, it is also appropriate to remember that (philosophies aside) for health reasons, many consumers MUST avoid the intake of certain molecules. This is the case of allergic to cow's milk proteins and lactose intolerant; these individuals, consuming vegetable cream with sodium caseinate, risk the appearance (severe in the first case and mild in the second) of symptoms related to the immune-mediated reaction or of a gastro-intestinal nature.
Vegetable cream contains a mix of fats from various food sources. The products available on the market are not all the same and offer chemical-physical (therefore nutritional) characteristics that are also quite different from each other; first of all, the raw material used. Fortunately, from 13/12/2014 it is mandatory to specify on the label the origin of the vegetable oils and / or fats used (eg. Olive oil, soybean oil, etc.); It is therefore not sufficient to report the generic term "vegetable oils" or "vegetable fats", behind which in the past the use of poor raw materials was often hidden.
As some (few) readers will know, oils and fats, based on their composition, have a different metabolic impact. At the same time, the characteristics of stability and solidity also vary, which, hainoi, are inversely proportional to the healthiness of the food. Saturated fats (prevalent in milk cream) are in fact more solid and stable, while unsaturated (prevalent in most vegetable oils) appear to be liquid and unsuitable for the whipping process. At the same time, saturated fats (in excess) have a HYPERcholesterolemic metabolic function (raise cholesterol), while some unsaturated ones (basically ω3, ω ‰ 6 and ω ‰ 9) favor the reduction of blood lipemia.
So, how is it possible that vegetable cream is more solid than an oil while containing the same raw material?
Simple! The food industry, from more or less remote times, has harnessed the techniques of splitting up And hydrogenation of fatty acids. I remind the readers that each oil (or fat) has a variable fatty acid composition and that the relative quality (and predisposition to use) varies significantly according to the prevalence of these molecules. Nevertheless, thanks to fractionation, it is possible to refine a product excluding the less desirable portion. In vegetable cream this happens: starting from a certain raw material (almost always poor) the fat portions considered suitable (generally composed of saturated acids) are extracted / isolated, since they are dense and stable even at room temperature .
The other technique, parallel and / or complementary in the production of vegetable cream, is hydrogenation. In this case, starting from a certain raw material (liquid but poor and / or deriving from fractionation), through a chemical-physical process based on the addition of hydrogen (H2), the transformation of unsaturated (liquid) fats into fats is required saturated (solid).
At this point other questions may haunt the kind readers: "What is the point of using a liquid vegetable raw material, therefore basically composed of unsaturated fats (which DO NOT have the characteristic of increasing cholesterolemia), if it is then necessary to transform the unsaturated components into hydrogenated-saturated ones? Isn't it better to use milk cream directly, which is already naturally rich in saturated fats?'
Once again the answer is simple, albeit more complex than the previous one:
- This process allows to obtain a product with the same (or better) physical characteristics of the milk cream, but this STILL does not justify the choice of one over the other.
- Pure vegetable cream, like margarine and all vegetable oils, does NOT contain cholesterol. This feature, which to a "superficial analysis would seem an advantage (thus becoming a strength in marketing), however, is a secondary aspect with respect to the overall chemical composition. Let me be clear, this is certainly not a negative peculiarity, but in the presence of the content of saturated and trans fatty acids (HYPERcholesterolemic), in my opinion, it is certainly of secondary importance
- The vegetable oils used cost less than milk, which is why it was crucial to invest money on advertising (see point 2) by exploiting scientific research regarding the side effects of a diet rich in cholesterol; in practice, by marketing a low-quality vegetable cream, you spend less and earn more than trading a cow's milk derivative.
At this point, it would appear that low-quality vegetable cream is nothing more than a food (metabolically) analogous to cream. Wrong! During the hydrogenation process (despite the recent technological advances in the field of the "food industry), a part of the hydrogens (H2)" goes about its business "and determines the birth of fatty acids that tend to be" foreign "to the" body. These molecules, identified with the name of fatty acids in conformation trans, are also present in nature, but their distribution in raw materials, unlike those processed by hydrogenation, is anything but relevant.
These molecules are NOT well liked by the metabolism (as it finds it difficult to use them correctly); consequently, their excess is correlated, even more than saturated fats, to: hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, cardio-vascular compromises, etc.
The negative aspects of vegetable cream are not over yet; less striking than the previous one, but still undesirable, the presence of heavy metals in the finished product is highlighted. The numerous processing steps determine the inevitable (albeit hypothetically "harmless") contamination of the food.
Vegetable cream: a look to the future
Fortunately, following the awareness of consumers, companies have taken steps to offer a less problematic food. This is the case of the alternative vegetable cream / cream based on: soy or oats or coconut or corn etc. They are all different from each other but, basically, they are born with the intention of ignoring the use of hydrogenation. Obviously, starting from the use of oils, it is inevitable that it is necessary to resort to fractionation, transesterification or the use of emulsifying and stabilizing food additives. Well, better than nothing!
Vegetable cream can also be made at home exploiting the emulsifying effect of soy lecithin.
Video Recipe - Learn how to make vegetable cream at home
Homemade Vegetable Cream
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Nutritional characteristics
As anticipated, COMMERCIAL vegetable cream can be divided into "cooking", "whipping" and "sweetened whipping". The nutritional intake of the three products is slightly different, but they all share the very high content of lipids and calories and the breakdown of fatty acids in favor of the hydrogenated-saturated ones. The sweetened ones also contain a fair amount of sucrose.
Vegetable cream is NOT a food suitable for diet against overweight and does not lend itself to the diet against hypercholesterolemia; moreover, as anticipated, most of the traditional vegetable creams are NOT foods that can be used in the diet of the lactose intolerant and even less for those allergic to casein proteins.
I conclude by strongly discouraging the use of commercial vegetable cream, especially in the feeding of children and, in general, of all growing subjects. These individuals, tend to be quite greedy for snacks and snacks, are already stocking up on saturated, hydrogenated and pure "trans" fatty acids. Better to prefer recipes without vegetable cream and, alternatively, which include the use of unsaturated fatty acids (extra virgin olive oil, corn, soy, peanut, etc.).
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