Why does a carton of heavy cream last for 2 months in the refrigerator, but a carton of milk only lasts for about 1 week before expiration?

Question

Why does a carton of heavy cream last for 2 months in the refrigerator, but a carton of milk only lasts for about 1 week before expiration?

In: 6468

Answer 1

Heavy cream is usually UHT or Ultra High Temperature pasteurized – basically they heat it up to well above the temperature that greeblies can live at for just a few seconds – enough to kill the greeblies but not long enough to cook or chemically alter the cream (too much).

So raises the question – how come all milk isn’t UHT pasteurized? It does carmelize some of the sugars, so it will sweeten the flavour a tad. It isn’t noticeable in your heavy cream because of all the fat and sugars already, but would be noticeable in milk. Plus, it requires special sterilization and sealable containers to be effective, plus you’re opening that milk constantly several times / day so there’s no point if you’re reintroducing airborne greeblies. Not true for the cream (unless you’re, for some reason having whipped cream with every meal?)