The History of Whipped Cream, And How The Process of Making It Improved Over Time

Whipped cream is a type of liquid heavy cream that’s whisked to perfection for it to look like the cream that we love to place on top of desserts and cold drinks. It is also just as good as the cream itself and has that texture a lot are familiar with. This is also known to be a historical recipe that has lasted for many years or even centuries. 

This recipe has come a long way before we enjoy spraying it off the whipped cream canisters. That’s why in this article, you are going to learn where whipped cream originated. Near the end of the article, you will also learn how it turned into the whipped cream that we love to spray off its signature dispensers.

How It All Started

There are a lot of documents coming from different eras which claim the origins of the whipped cream recipe. Thus, we are going to take a lot at the oldest recorded discovery of whipped cream, which dates way back to the 16th century. Back in the 1500s, whipped cream has already existed and was just as popular as it is today. 

Though no one was considered as the founding father (or mother) of the whipped cream recipe, some notable people have noted this down and regarded their documentation as solid proof that it was discovered back in the aforementioned century.

Some of the most notable documentation came from renowned chefs back in the old days. Cristoforo di Messisbugo, who lived back in the years of the Renaissance in Ferrara during 1549, is known to have created the oldest recorded recipe of whipped cream. There are also some cooks such as Bartolomeo Scappi from Rome, and Lancelot de Casteau who were also known to be the first ones who created whipped cream as well. 

Back in their days, whipped cream also had a different name. Some simply called it “milk”, but others named it cream snow because of its texture that does indeed look like snow. Numerous variants of whipped cream were already created during the 16th century as well. One notable example was the use of egg whites on the whipped cream to make it look more like snow. Others would add a mixture of rosewater and sugar, too. 

Over the years that passed, whipped cream became a popular ingredient to a lot of people from 

Europe, and eventually to the rest of the world thanks to the word of mouth. During the 19th century, the process became much better as the cream gets naturally separated before the whipping process, through the use of rush and willow branches. The process of creating this version had a lot of steps, which also involved draining and skimming the separated foamy substance at the surface of the cream to obtain the whipped cream. 

But the modern whipped cream that we love nowadays was said to be founded by a chef named Francois Vatel when he prepared the “snow” at the Chateau de Chantilly back in the 17th century to serve the guests of King Louis XIV. This was eventually named Creme Chantilly because of the venue of the event where the cream got served first, and how Baronne d’Oberkirch gave praises to the rich flavor of the cream that was served that time. 

How The Process Improved

By the 1930s, the method of using willow or rush before skimming off the cream was completely replaced by a revolutionary technique developed by a group of scientists. In the 1930s, a group of scientists experimented on a group of gases to stabilize the cream. Eventually, they would stumble upon the nitrous oxide, which was proven to be safe to apply to food, and decided to use it as a stabilizing agent for the whipped cream.

Ever since that time, whipped cream chargers that are packed with nitrous oxide were created to provide a safe means to apply the gas to the whipped cream for the sake of stabilizing it for a long time. Ever since then, whipped cream became that sprayable dessert that a lot know about nowadays. Whipped cream chargers are readily available and you can buy cream chargers online.

Just imagine how whipped cream journeyed over the years, from the part where electricity and scientists cannot use such gases, to the point where these technologies because user-friendly enough for people at home to create their blend of whipped cream. It is truly amazing how food recipes became revised and improved over time, and little do others know that the whipped cream century is already centuries old! 

So once you start making your own whipped cream, just be thankful first for how science managed to make it very easy for us to create nowadays!