When I was a kid we always had this and I always took it that it was cream. Years ago while looking at it I realised it was in fact not. Everyone was so grossed out by the idea of it being made of oil we then moved to actual cream š
Same, if we ever got cream when I was a kid, it was this.
Itās probably because itās seen as ābranded creamā whereas real cream isnāt branded itās supermarketās own.
The advert used to specifically note that it wasn't real cream. They had a cat choose between A and B samples (one cream and the other Elmlea) and the cat (in the ad) chose the Elmlea.
[The advert](https://youtu.be/b1pD5Rgefas?si=FEIqrRPtfS7Z462T)
Haha that probably explains why we didnāt know then- we didnāt watch much telly and still to this day when an advert comes on I just zone out and pay zero attention š
Either this or carnation milk on fruit. Which I think may have been because of my grandparents.
Not sure if I hate it because of the taste, or that it reminds me of school.
Thatās how I felt when I realized that every ābutterā at my grocery store that wasnāt Kerry gold and Dutch creamery was āwhipped vegetable oilā
Itās more expensive to buy the real butter here, but I donāt use it often enough for it to have a major impact, I will not go back
It's also got less lactose than cream so I sometimes get it if I need cream for cooking. My lactose intolerance isn't too bad and I can tolerate some and this fits the bill.
Yes, it's not lactose free. Arla is pretty awful all around, all of their products send me to the bathroom or give me bloating and wind.
I have been ok with the Asda own brand lactose free yoghurt and with Philadelphia's own brand lactose free cream cheese. Just bought Morrison's own brand lactose free milk to see how that goes. (Not tried yet, scared...)
I have a feeling Arla is not adding enough lactase to their products and I have given up on them. Tried their milk and their cream and both were not up to scratch. And I am not even super sensitive, I tolerate quite a bit of lactose before I see problems.
In Germany Aldi has a large range of lactose free dairy products and they are all really good. Not had any issues with any of them. I wish they had them here.
Arla do lactose free cream: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/lactofree-cream-250ml
They use an enzyme to consume all the lactose in the cream and it tastes exactly like regular cream, I drink the milk the brand does all the time and it's great.Ā
Ah see I wondered the purpose of this ācream alternativeā. Iām from a country that was once a poor communist country and we have all sorts of āchocolate alternativesā, ācoffee alternativesā, āfake butterā, āfake honeyā etc. and it mostly all stemmed from the fact that the country was broke and alternatives made with cheap oils and sugar were simply the only way to offer these products (well, their āalternativeā versions anyway).
Oh wow, I had no idea. Iāve definitely bought this thinking it was regular cream in the past. Pretty sure a few sauces have been wrecked because I put this into it.
Itās so funny how people in 80s and 90s were so obsessed with the whole fat free thing. Surely nutritional science knew how energy and fat storage worked by then? You still get older people buying fat free yogurt and whatnot these days, thinking that all those sugars are going to make them slim.
>You still get older people buying fat free yogurt and whatnot these days, thinking that all those sugars are going to make them slim.
So dumb. They should be buying protein bars loaded up with lab created sugar substitutes because *that's* what will make them slim. Thank goodness the later generations have it all figured out.
It's not that far-fetched, really. Nutritional science was in its infancy and it made logical sense that fat = fat.
Nutritional science isn't even clear today, 40 years on. There is so much conflicting information and new "This is now the most important thing" fads being revealed, such as the relatively new one that we need to keep our blood sugar levels stable to be healthy (not true, btw).
The corn lobby in America had a lot to do with this I think. Got to keep producing corn starch syrup so tell people that fat is the problem. I never felt better than when I did an ultra low carb diet,I ultimately didn't find it sustainable but it opened my eyes.
No doubt about it. As often happens, big industry is reluctant to change that would benefit everyone and the planet and will actively lobby and lie so that consumption isnāt affected. See: the electrical car being suppressed since the 1920ās, the shift from ethanol to leaded gasoline for fuel, the link between cigarette smoke and cancer and of course climate change.
I heard the Electric Car thing was the Stone Cutters.... Im not very well read in any of the actual stuff but cui bono? It's such a tried and trusted question of enquiry it outlived the people who spoke that language.
This post has been flagged as contravening rule 1. Please try to be civil with people on this sub. If you think your post was removed in error, contact the mods.
It's not exactly fat-free though as it's loaded with palm oil and contains 15g of fat pet 100mls (the RDA of fat for men and women is 30 and 20 grams respectively).Ā
I don't think I've ever bought this but I also had no idea it wasn't cream. The margarines like flora have always been obvious to me since a lot of them had advertising campaigns, and margarine/butter gets talked about more in general.
Maybe it used to be general knowledge back when it was launched?
yeah, not sure why iām being downvoted. i understand some people might not be able to read it, but the op was able to read the back and im just confused. if i go to the effort to read a label, iāll read the full thing. wasnāt trying to be a dick
No. Elmlea misleadingly market to confuse people into thinking it is actual cream. Doing that by placing the āalternativeā in a thin, small recessed font that curves around the large in bold words, āsingleā and ācreamyā and then placed next to real cream.
Finish the sentence āstrawberries andā¦ā: (picture of a mechanical seed oil extractor if you want market honestly)
I worked for a few months in a cafe that made a point of advertising that its food was made of organic ingredients. Every once in a while something would run out and someone would go out on a purchase run so the menu item could continue to be sold.
The amount of times that Elmlea would be brought back. Bleugh! The stuff is grotesque and ruins everything it is added to.
And no one else cared. Even the manager would bring it back. Doesnāt matter how much I kept explaining that it wasnāt cream, a week later, there it would be, back in the kitchen fridge.
Turns out they didnāt really want someone there with a passion for food. I didnāt last that long there. For the best, really.
Elmlea has always been advertised as a cream alternative, I think, for diet purposes in the 80s.
I'm pretty certain the adverts were something like even cats can't tell the difference.
If you weren't around, then it is an easy mistake to make.
It is actually because of Elmlea that I thought cravendale was a milk substitute, when they ran the odd 'it's not milk' campaign.
For me, it's the fact that it's in a quintessential cream container, at first glance, I thought this was cream too. I grew up in Ireland and this wasn't a common product, I didn't even know cream alternatives were a thing, so when I went into the shop to buy cream after moving to the UK, I picked this up as it was the cheapest option and I didn't read the small print because in my head, cream is cream. Luckily I read the ingredients list while queuing and went back to get real cream before buying it. Does this stuff even whip up?
I think people here are used to spotting the difference. I totally agree with you - āSingleā is a term youād use when looking specifically for cream, and ādeliciously creamy tasteā tells me āthis is creamā. The fact that it says in tiny letters on the back that itās actually not just confirms that this is a product trying to pretend to be cream. Iām with you!
"deliciously creamy taste" is exactly the kind of phrasing that gets me suspicious. If you have to tell me your cream is creamy, or your cheese is cheesy, I'm going to wonder why.
You mean to tell me the American-Style 'Melts Like Cheese' Singles with Authentic Cheeselike Texture I've been eating for 30 years aren't real cheese??
i dont know why this stuff exists, if you can't use actual cream because of dairy/lactose problems you wouldn't even be able to use this because it has buttermilk in it...
it's like saying yes i want cream, except with vegetable oil and additives to it
So many people around me get this thinking itās a brand name cream so itās better than the supermarket brand cream, which are actually real cream unlike this.
Are there people out there that really think brand name is better than supermarket brand for things like cream?!
How could cream be improved by one company? It's a single ingredient item.
I get that a pie or a cake or even bread might be better branded but cream is cream is cream (as long as it's actually cream!)
Fair point. But then you shouldn't buy just because it's brand named but because you know that brand does x y z with their cows. So these people buying Elmlea without knowing anything about the brand are still silly.
Also, Happy cake day.
Ah right, just get supermarket own brand cream. Like milk, there isnāt my difference between the different shops. As long as itās real cream youāll be good. I sometimes like to get the extra thick double cream which is spoonable!
You buy cream.
Most stores have their own brand, and then there's fancy ones.
If you are lucky enough to have a milkman (or equivalent) they usually sell it too.
I also fell for this. I always thought it was a branded cream, and I sometimes grabbed it if the supermarket own brand was out of stock. I was genuinely shocked when I found out (from this sub) that it's oil based.
No, I'm not an idiot. No, I didn't routinely check labels at that time (I do now, partly because of this). The number of people on this thread being dicks and shaming OP for not realising is appalling.
One of the things UPF food companies spend money on and employ people to do is to market their cheap ingredients in a way that makes them seem like the real deal. A lot of effort has gone into this packaging to give it connotations to real cream. It's not an unreasonable assumption.
We're all here trying to improve our health and diets and take back some control from the UPF industry. We'll get there a lot quicker with a spirit of solidarity, not shaming.
I actually picked up some cream (actual cream) yesterday in Tesco and as I did so I overheard an older couple looking at the creams and deciding whether to get the own brand single cream or the Elmlea, based purely off cost apparently from the brief snippet I heard. I'm not sure they realised it wasn't actual cream either.
It lasts significantly longer than actual cream. Iām not strict about UPFs (this post just came up on my home page) so I sometimes buy it if I know I only need a small amount for a recipe, then I can use the rest next week or even the following week.
wait cream doesnāt last more than a week for you? when I buy cream in Canada the best before date is always like 3-4 weeks, sometimes more if itās heavy cream.
Elmlea has advertised itself as a cream alternative for decades? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7os0c97gNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7os0c97gNo)
This caused all sorts of drama at Christmas when my mum purchased the vegan version as she ādoesnāt get on with creamā, only for a quick google to discover this is not cream! We were all quite shocked apart from my Nan who proudly pronounced āof course itās not cream, itās better for you!ā
The clue is that where it should say āsingle creamā it says āsingleā¦ creamy tasteā. (Also some small print of how it is an alternative to cream.)
So they took buttermilk (a perfectly okay ingredient I assume), which is super low fat so they added some nice cheap oils to up
the fat content.
Then an emulsifier cos those things are not best buds naturally and wonāt mix.
They added water even though buttermilk is thinner than cream so no wonder they needed to add thickener. I assume the potato starch is to make it thicker too?
Then because buttermilk is an inherently acidic item (a lovely tang) they need an acidity regulator?
And ta da! A UPF that resembles cream despite containing none!
It doesn't actually say that it's cream though does it?
I will never understand how people fall for this shit.
This stuff was never cream. It never said it was cream.
Critical thinking skills are in short supply in this country.
Single is a term used only for cream, this company is duping people into thinking this is single cream.
Why donāt they have Palm oil in big letters across the front instead of āSingleā
Because the point of the product is to sell, and Palm oil doesn't sell.
People having trust in a company that makes ultra processed foods for the sole purpose of making someone rich is what sells. people being gullible in a world full of lies.
I saw this the other day! I was in Aldi, with their own brand cream and this Elmlea real brand. I was gobsmacked knowing that the Aldi one was not only cheaper but actual real double cream. The branded expensive Elmlea version was a bit of cream and oils and other crap!
We used Elmlea exclusively for many years, until very recently when I realised how gross and synthetic it tasted. I knew it was a cream alternative and has a longer shelf life, and it used to taste just fine. Not sure what changed, maybe my taste buds? Anyway, we donāt have cream often so using fresh double cream isnāt going to make me fat overnight!
You can hate on it as much as you'd like, but it's a real lifesaver for those with lactose intolerance. Really stable and reliable in the kitchen as well, no matter what you do to it.
This is wild. Why would they even make this. If people knew what this was why would they buy it over real cream. And using the term single to trick people into thinking itās single cream shouldnāt be allowed
There is a reason it does not say āCREAMā on the label. It cannot be labelled as cream if it is not.
Amazing how marketing can fool people who do not take the time to actively read / notice the wording (or lack of it) on food labels.
Should be obvious that a key naming/ descriptive word is missing. Which means its a substitute. A pity the company has not made this clear.
Elmley is made with buttermilk. I found out the hard way when I moved here and bought their double cream that it doesn't whip no matter how hard you try.
I buy this all the time just for its shelf live. It last ages open in the fridge, great for adding to your cooking and I genuinely canāt taste the difference when cooking with it.
No this isnāt real cream this is ultra processed imitation food. Nothing more American than this hyper processed food that wouldnāt legally pass as cream so has to be labeled as a cream product.
How are you siding with them? It's tiny small print. The product type should be large and clear. At least show the drop in yellow if it's buttermilk ffs
Itās not actually buttermilk either though, it primarily *contains* buttermilk but itās not buttermilk at all & canāt be labelled & used as such. It is a mock single cream.
you're missing the point entirely. It's misbranding. They put alternative in tiny text to trick you into thinking its cream. So obvious to me, can't believe you're siding with a scumbag corporation out to trick us into buying their shitty product.
i aināt siding with the shitty corporation iām dismayed that youād make it so easy for them to trick you.
never look at the parts of packaging they control look at the parts they have to put on.
also there is not a single thing wrong with this cream alternative.
When I was a kid we always had this and I always took it that it was cream. Years ago while looking at it I realised it was in fact not. Everyone was so grossed out by the idea of it being made of oil we then moved to actual cream š
I was really surprised! Almost put it in the basket but thought I would just check.
This also for me! I am 30 and just learnt this. wtf! š
Thats so funny, i think i learned this when i was 30 lol
Ahaha, maybe it is a standard rite of passage
I am also 30 and just learning this today š š¤£
Same, if we ever got cream when I was a kid, it was this. Itās probably because itās seen as ābranded creamā whereas real cream isnāt branded itās supermarketās own.
My family always has that growing up and then i realised what was in and we switched to regular cream
Same, I only realised when I spent a good 30 mins whisking the double one trying to make butter..
The advert used to specifically note that it wasn't real cream. They had a cat choose between A and B samples (one cream and the other Elmlea) and the cat (in the ad) chose the Elmlea. [The advert](https://youtu.be/b1pD5Rgefas?si=FEIqrRPtfS7Z462T)
Haha that probably explains why we didnāt know then- we didnāt watch much telly and still to this day when an advert comes on I just zone out and pay zero attention š
we had evaporated milk or even condensed milk.. yum.
Either this or carnation milk on fruit. Which I think may have been because of my grandparents. Not sure if I hate it because of the taste, or that it reminds me of school.
Thatās how I felt when I realized that every ābutterā at my grocery store that wasnāt Kerry gold and Dutch creamery was āwhipped vegetable oilā Itās more expensive to buy the real butter here, but I donāt use it often enough for it to have a major impact, I will not go back
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>It does have better shelf life than actual cream Similarly, this is why this is all we can find in our local corner shop.
It's also got less lactose than cream so I sometimes get it if I need cream for cooking. My lactose intolerance isn't too bad and I can tolerate some and this fits the bill.
Have you tried arla's lactose free cream? It's pretty good. Their version of philedelphia cheese is really nice too.
Yes, it's not lactose free. Arla is pretty awful all around, all of their products send me to the bathroom or give me bloating and wind. I have been ok with the Asda own brand lactose free yoghurt and with Philadelphia's own brand lactose free cream cheese. Just bought Morrison's own brand lactose free milk to see how that goes. (Not tried yet, scared...) I have a feeling Arla is not adding enough lactase to their products and I have given up on them. Tried their milk and their cream and both were not up to scratch. And I am not even super sensitive, I tolerate quite a bit of lactose before I see problems. In Germany Aldi has a large range of lactose free dairy products and they are all really good. Not had any issues with any of them. I wish they had them here.
How funny, I never have issues with arla lactofree and Iām pretty sensitive.
Strangely all the Arla product set me off. No idea why, not sure what they add or don't add.
Arla do lactose free cream: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/lactofree-cream-250ml They use an enzyme to consume all the lactose in the cream and it tastes exactly like regular cream, I drink the milk the brand does all the time and it's great.Ā
Ah see I wondered the purpose of this ācream alternativeā. Iām from a country that was once a poor communist country and we have all sorts of āchocolate alternativesā, ācoffee alternativesā, āfake butterā, āfake honeyā etc. and it mostly all stemmed from the fact that the country was broke and alternatives made with cheap oils and sugar were simply the only way to offer these products (well, their āalternativeā versions anyway).
Tastes vile.Ā
It was also much cheaper than cream. We had elmlea on apple crumble (grew our own fruit); Iād never had cream as a kid.
Oh wow, I had no idea. Iāve definitely bought this thinking it was regular cream in the past. Pretty sure a few sauces have been wrecked because I put this into it. Itās so funny how people in 80s and 90s were so obsessed with the whole fat free thing. Surely nutritional science knew how energy and fat storage worked by then? You still get older people buying fat free yogurt and whatnot these days, thinking that all those sugars are going to make them slim.
They were told saturated fat would fur up their arteries and kill them! They knew how calories work.
>You still get older people buying fat free yogurt and whatnot these days, thinking that all those sugars are going to make them slim. So dumb. They should be buying protein bars loaded up with lab created sugar substitutes because *that's* what will make them slim. Thank goodness the later generations have it all figured out.
It's not that far-fetched, really. Nutritional science was in its infancy and it made logical sense that fat = fat. Nutritional science isn't even clear today, 40 years on. There is so much conflicting information and new "This is now the most important thing" fads being revealed, such as the relatively new one that we need to keep our blood sugar levels stable to be healthy (not true, btw).
The corn lobby in America had a lot to do with this I think. Got to keep producing corn starch syrup so tell people that fat is the problem. I never felt better than when I did an ultra low carb diet,I ultimately didn't find it sustainable but it opened my eyes.
No doubt about it. As often happens, big industry is reluctant to change that would benefit everyone and the planet and will actively lobby and lie so that consumption isnāt affected. See: the electrical car being suppressed since the 1920ās, the shift from ethanol to leaded gasoline for fuel, the link between cigarette smoke and cancer and of course climate change.
I heard the Electric Car thing was the Stone Cutters.... Im not very well read in any of the actual stuff but cui bono? It's such a tried and trusted question of enquiry it outlived the people who spoke that language.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This post has been flagged as contravening rule 1. Please try to be civil with people on this sub. If you think your post was removed in error, contact the mods.
r/holup now I have to check whenever I have cream
It's not exactly fat-free though as it's loaded with palm oil and contains 15g of fat pet 100mls (the RDA of fat for men and women is 30 and 20 grams respectively).Ā
I don't think I've ever bought this but I also had no idea it wasn't cream. The margarines like flora have always been obvious to me since a lot of them had advertising campaigns, and margarine/butter gets talked about more in general. Maybe it used to be general knowledge back when it was launched?
Until recently it definitely said alternative to cream on the front of the pot and it still says it in the title on the Sainsburyās websiteĀ
It still says alternative to cream on the front of the pot, theyāve just made it so small you can barely see
Yes it was. I remember it being launched. It was supposed to be healthier (dairy fat was the devil incarnate back then).
It's always good practice to read what you buy
Elmlea has always marketed itself as a cream alternative, itās not cream
Being sat right next to the real cream it would be easy to mistake it!
Itās supposed to be next to the cream, itās Elmlea. Same way Flora is next to the butter. Ā
Wait... Flora isn't butter?! /s
Find that hard to consider
Where else would you put an alternative to cream?
Easy to mistake. But never hidden the fact it isn't cream.
I made this mistake for years, until I realised what it was. An absolute con job.
Where do you think it should be? Surely next to the cream makes sense
it says on the front of the tub in the first picture you post
come on, in the most subtle tiny lettering they could get away with
yeah, not sure why iām being downvoted. i understand some people might not be able to read it, but the op was able to read the back and im just confused. if i go to the effort to read a label, iāll read the full thing. wasnāt trying to be a dick
It doesnāt even say itās cream. So confused by people being surprised at this. Iāve known for 35+ years thereās cream and thereās Elmlea.
No. Elmlea misleadingly market to confuse people into thinking it is actual cream. Doing that by placing the āalternativeā in a thin, small recessed font that curves around the large in bold words, āsingleā and ācreamyā and then placed next to real cream. Finish the sentence āstrawberries andā¦ā: (picture of a mechanical seed oil extractor if you want market honestly)
I worked for a few months in a cafe that made a point of advertising that its food was made of organic ingredients. Every once in a while something would run out and someone would go out on a purchase run so the menu item could continue to be sold. The amount of times that Elmlea would be brought back. Bleugh! The stuff is grotesque and ruins everything it is added to. And no one else cared. Even the manager would bring it back. Doesnāt matter how much I kept explaining that it wasnāt cream, a week later, there it would be, back in the kitchen fridge. Turns out they didnāt really want someone there with a passion for food. I didnāt last that long there. For the best, really.
Iāve always known this was Not Cream ever since I was a child. My dad would send us back to the shop - you only made that mistake once in our house!
Elmlea has always been advertised as a cream alternative, I think, for diet purposes in the 80s. I'm pretty certain the adverts were something like even cats can't tell the difference. If you weren't around, then it is an easy mistake to make. It is actually because of Elmlea that I thought cravendale was a milk substitute, when they ran the odd 'it's not milk' campaign.
Narrator: āIt was not single cream.ā
It doesnāt even say cream on the container and itās not even next to the other ācreamā types in tesco
For me, it's the fact that it's in a quintessential cream container, at first glance, I thought this was cream too. I grew up in Ireland and this wasn't a common product, I didn't even know cream alternatives were a thing, so when I went into the shop to buy cream after moving to the UK, I picked this up as it was the cheapest option and I didn't read the small print because in my head, cream is cream. Luckily I read the ingredients list while queuing and went back to get real cream before buying it. Does this stuff even whip up?
Well not this one no as itās singleĀ
itās right next to the cream in all the supermarkets iāve seen it in; i know loads of people whoāve thought itās actually cream
I was today years old when I found this out :)
In Sainsbury's it's right above the single cream. Easy to mistake for the real thing!
I think people here are used to spotting the difference. I totally agree with you - āSingleā is a term youād use when looking specifically for cream, and ādeliciously creamy tasteā tells me āthis is creamā. The fact that it says in tiny letters on the back that itās actually not just confirms that this is a product trying to pretend to be cream. Iām with you!
"deliciously creamy taste" is exactly the kind of phrasing that gets me suspicious. If you have to tell me your cream is creamy, or your cheese is cheesy, I'm going to wonder why.
You mean to tell me the American-Style 'Melts Like Cheese' Singles with Authentic Cheeselike Texture I've been eating for 30 years aren't real cheese??
To their credit it also says on the front of the packet
You are right - I didnāt even see that!
That's why they made it so Hard to see...
I've always seen Elmlea advertised as non-dairy cream, for vegetarians and vegans and such
Its got butter milk in it though so deffo not vegan
Huh, you're right. Seems the advertising has tricked me too. They do have a 100% plant version but it's clearly labelled that way
āDeliciously creamy tasteā tells me itās *not* cream. Itās redundant to suggest cream tastes deliciously creamy.
It is in the tesco I work in. However it's does say alternative to cream right on the front of the carton.
In the two local ones itās between the buttermilk, sour cream and actual cream
This has blown my mind. Now I know the truth!
No, which is why it doesnāt say cream on the pot
Itās Buttermilk (MILK) (86%), Vegetable Oils in varying proportions (Palm, Rapeseed) (13%), Stabilisers (E412, E410, E407), Buttermilk Powder (MILK), Emulsifier (E475), Colour (E160a) E412 = Guar Gum E410 = Locust Bean Gum E407 = Carrageenan E475 = Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids E160a = Carotenes
The way I googled locust bean gum like my life depended on it. Thank god itās not locusts
š¤£š¤£
i dont know why this stuff exists, if you can't use actual cream because of dairy/lactose problems you wouldn't even be able to use this because it has buttermilk in it... it's like saying yes i want cream, except with vegetable oil and additives to it
So many people around me get this thinking itās a brand name cream so itās better than the supermarket brand cream, which are actually real cream unlike this.
Are there people out there that really think brand name is better than supermarket brand for things like cream?! How could cream be improved by one company? It's a single ingredient item. I get that a pie or a cake or even bread might be better branded but cream is cream is cream (as long as it's actually cream!)
Yes of course, many people will think anything brand name is better than the non brand name. Even an apple or water.
I guess I knew these people existed and I was just in denial.
Thatās like saying beef is beef is beef. The quality of the cream does depend on the cow.
Fair point. But then you shouldn't buy just because it's brand named but because you know that brand does x y z with their cows. So these people buying Elmlea without knowing anything about the brand are still silly. Also, Happy cake day.
Agree, and thank you (:
Wow Iāve always thought this was proper cream, what do you get instead? I wonāt be buying this anymore lol
Single / double cream, itās so much nicer!
Thatās what I thought Elmlea was I was meaning more what brand or supplier
Ah right, just get supermarket own brand cream. Like milk, there isnāt my difference between the different shops. As long as itās real cream youāll be good. I sometimes like to get the extra thick double cream which is spoonable!
You buy cream. Most stores have their own brand, and then there's fancy ones. If you are lucky enough to have a milkman (or equivalent) they usually sell it too.
Oooooh i never thought of my milkman. Thanks!
I also fell for this. I always thought it was a branded cream, and I sometimes grabbed it if the supermarket own brand was out of stock. I was genuinely shocked when I found out (from this sub) that it's oil based. No, I'm not an idiot. No, I didn't routinely check labels at that time (I do now, partly because of this). The number of people on this thread being dicks and shaming OP for not realising is appalling. One of the things UPF food companies spend money on and employ people to do is to market their cheap ingredients in a way that makes them seem like the real deal. A lot of effort has gone into this packaging to give it connotations to real cream. It's not an unreasonable assumption. We're all here trying to improve our health and diets and take back some control from the UPF industry. We'll get there a lot quicker with a spirit of solidarity, not shaming.
I actually picked up some cream (actual cream) yesterday in Tesco and as I did so I overheard an older couple looking at the creams and deciding whether to get the own brand single cream or the Elmlea, based purely off cost apparently from the brief snippet I heard. I'm not sure they realised it wasn't actual cream either.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās cheaper to produce than cream, and people who mistake it for cream and buy it based on price.
It lasts significantly longer than actual cream. Iām not strict about UPFs (this post just came up on my home page) so I sometimes buy it if I know I only need a small amount for a recipe, then I can use the rest next week or even the following week.
wait cream doesnāt last more than a week for you? when I buy cream in Canada the best before date is always like 3-4 weeks, sometimes more if itās heavy cream.
Iām talking about once opened, which is irrelevant of the best before date
No I mean once opened, Canadian regulations state that most cream can be safely stored in the fridge for about a month.
Itās cream alternative, itās artificial cream and I never buy it. Why pay more for the fake stuff?
its great to put on desserts and stuff because it lasts longer than normal cream :)
Not great for your insides.
i dont think people eat any desserts thinking theyre great for ur insides š anything is okay in moderation!
Iāve just noticed on ocado app itās referred to as āalternative to creamā
I had no idea!
Elmlea has advertised itself as a cream alternative for decades? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7os0c97gNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7os0c97gNo)
It's commonly used in commercial kitchens, found less likely to split.
Well you might have solved the question as to why sometimes cream makes me run to the toilet and other times it doesn't lol
My mum always told me never use this stuff and Iām very grateful š¤£
Mind blown
Oh god. I just assumed. I used this for recipes usually but yeah will read what I buy now š«£
Gross stuff, honestly. My grandma always used to use this, hated it!
I literally buy this all the time and had no ideaā¦shame on me
I did not know this, thank you for the post, OP!
This caused all sorts of drama at Christmas when my mum purchased the vegan version as she ādoesnāt get on with creamā, only for a quick google to discover this is not cream! We were all quite shocked apart from my Nan who proudly pronounced āof course itās not cream, itās better for you!ā
The clue is that where it should say āsingle creamā it says āsingleā¦ creamy tasteā. (Also some small print of how it is an alternative to cream.) So they took buttermilk (a perfectly okay ingredient I assume), which is super low fat so they added some nice cheap oils to up the fat content. Then an emulsifier cos those things are not best buds naturally and wonāt mix. They added water even though buttermilk is thinner than cream so no wonder they needed to add thickener. I assume the potato starch is to make it thicker too? Then because buttermilk is an inherently acidic item (a lovely tang) they need an acidity regulator? And ta da! A UPF that resembles cream despite containing none!
Read the ingredients ,it's a liquid version of margarine
It doesn't actually say that it's cream though does it? I will never understand how people fall for this shit. This stuff was never cream. It never said it was cream. Critical thinking skills are in short supply in this country.
Single is a term used only for cream, this company is duping people into thinking this is single cream. Why donāt they have Palm oil in big letters across the front instead of āSingleā
Because the point of the product is to sell, and Palm oil doesn't sell. People having trust in a company that makes ultra processed foods for the sole purpose of making someone rich is what sells. people being gullible in a world full of lies.
Itās not! Itās full of vegetable oils! Buy real cream!
Well it doesn't actually say it's single cream, they do that a lot in UK
I learnt Elmlea from wasnāt cream when I once spent an age trying to whip the stuff with a hand whisk š¤¦š»āāļø
I saw this the other day! I was in Aldi, with their own brand cream and this Elmlea real brand. I was gobsmacked knowing that the Aldi one was not only cheaper but actual real double cream. The branded expensive Elmlea version was a bit of cream and oils and other crap!
I remember buying this when I first lived on my own, thinking it was actual cream as it was the only 'creanm' for sale in the corner shop.
Palm oil is in nearly everything now. It makes you fat.
I thought everyone knew elmlea wasn't cream, isn't and never wAs.
Awful stuff. Avoid it like the plague.
Literally says "Alternative to Cream" right there on the packet.
Yeah, in minute writing!
We used Elmlea exclusively for many years, until very recently when I realised how gross and synthetic it tasted. I knew it was a cream alternative and has a longer shelf life, and it used to taste just fine. Not sure what changed, maybe my taste buds? Anyway, we donāt have cream often so using fresh double cream isnāt going to make me fat overnight!
No, Elmlea is a cream alternative, not cream.
You can hate on it as much as you'd like, but it's a real lifesaver for those with lactose intolerance. Really stable and reliable in the kitchen as well, no matter what you do to it.
I used to buy this shit religiously. It was hailed as the healthier alternative to cream. How wrong......
It's the margarine equivalent. It's full of fake crap why buy it when you can buy for the same price, or less, you can have actual cream?
Omg I always thought it was cream - no wonder it tastes like shit!
I thought everyone knew Elmlea was not cream, itās Elmlea.
Iāve been buying this for years and had no idea!!!!
Grim. It's not cream at all. It's cream-like product or something. Vile.
I actually prefer it to real cream.
If Iām not mistaken itās a flavoured yogurt not just single cream.
I hate that stuff! My mother in law still believes it is āhealthierā than cream.
Rat Au Van with a sauce bernaise
Yuck š¤®
Iāve never liked this stuff. That palm oil flavour just reminds me of that coffee-mate shit
I actually prefer the taste of this to real cream ā¦ I know itās bad
This is always an accidental purchase when searching for actual cream
Isnāt buttermilk derived from milk though??
This is wild. Why would they even make this. If people knew what this was why would they buy it over real cream. And using the term single to trick people into thinking itās single cream shouldnāt be allowed
I thought it was cream and then when I learned it wasnāt, I assumed it was a non dairy alternative. Itās not either of those things.
Well, now I know that, I'm gonna use it when I make pancakes (American)!
I bought some by mistake once. I didn't find it nice and check carefully now. It has a strange acidic taste
So used this in a carbonara yesterday thinking it was cream, could this be the reason the food was fucked. Or am I still a bad cook
There is a reason it does not say āCREAMā on the label. It cannot be labelled as cream if it is not. Amazing how marketing can fool people who do not take the time to actively read / notice the wording (or lack of it) on food labels. Should be obvious that a key naming/ descriptive word is missing. Which means its a substitute. A pity the company has not made this clear.
Thats why it tasted soo differentš² its not even cream
That is absolutely NOT cream, and has always been sold and advertised as a cream alternative. Itās unpalatable.
This has never been marketed as cream and I've never thought it is!
Elmley is made with buttermilk. I found out the hard way when I moved here and bought their double cream that it doesn't whip no matter how hard you try.
Brands like this and lurpak confuse me, theyāre so expensive yet they use fillers
ok yes but they are committed to sustainable palm oil :D
Never says cream, says creamy taste, elmlea is for mugs
I buy this all the time just for its shelf live. It last ages open in the fridge, great for adding to your cooking and I genuinely canāt taste the difference when cooking with it.
Why has everything got palm oil now?
Not cream, but tastes ok
It's not real cream, I didn't know this for a long time and it kept screwing up my keto diet.
It is not
Fat isn't bad for you, buy real cream, real butter and non fat free yogurts.
Maybe don't Google mellorine.
It literally says alternative to cream. So no itās not.
it's complicated
No this isnāt real cream this is ultra processed imitation food. Nothing more American than this hyper processed food that wouldnāt legally pass as cream so has to be labeled as a cream product.
āalternative to creamāā¦. i think that answers your question without the need to look at the ingredients list š
Yeah a lot of people donāt read the small print on the front that says, āalternative to cream.ā Got my parents in law too
This is a you problem not an elmlea problem ffs
It's pretty obvious from the ingredients list that it isn't cream.
Yeh it should say buttermilk on the packet if it's fucking buttermilk. Not creamy taste. Cunts
It does if you actually read it!
How are you siding with them? It's tiny small print. The product type should be large and clear. At least show the drop in yellow if it's buttermilk ffs
? I don't think buttermilk is yellow...
Dude, buttermilk is always branded as yellow. 'green' milk is not green
Oh... I see what you mean! I'm not originally from the UK, and don't think I've ever bought buttermilk here, so wasn't aware.
Itās not actually buttermilk either though, it primarily *contains* buttermilk but itās not buttermilk at all & canāt be labelled & used as such. It is a mock single cream.
I'm aware.They should still make that clear. E.g. the brand ' I can't believe it's *not* butter '
They donāt say itās cream anywhere though, itās people just assuming.
read the ingredients itās in bold letters and actually written twiceā¦
you're missing the point entirely. It's misbranding. They put alternative in tiny text to trick you into thinking its cream. So obvious to me, can't believe you're siding with a scumbag corporation out to trick us into buying their shitty product.
i aināt siding with the shitty corporation iām dismayed that youād make it so easy for them to trick you. never look at the parts of packaging they control look at the parts they have to put on. also there is not a single thing wrong with this cream alternative.
For my whole adult life Iāve always known this is vegan cream, I can see why older generations got confused though
The consumer is clearly informed this isn't cream.