cream

Cream is the fat that rises to the top of milk when it’s processed. The fat is skimmed (removed from the top) and made into dairy products:

• Do you like cream in your coffee?
• Strawberries taste great with cream poured on top of them.
• There’s a lot of cream inside of a Twinkie.
• Many people choose half and half over cream because it’s lower in cholesterol.

Whipped cream on top of a piece of pie adds additional sweetness and flavor to the dessert.

There are many different types of food that include cream: ice cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, sour cream, banana cream pie, butter cream, clotted cream, cream of wheat, and cream puffs. Not all cream is edible. Men use shaving cream for shaving their face and women use hand cream, which is a type of lotion for softening the hands.

Add a "y" to the end of "cream" to form the adjective, "creamy."

• These mashed potatoes are hot and creamy.
• Bill likes creamy salad dressing, even though it’s highly caloric.
• This dessert is light and creamy.
• A Twinkie has white frosting in the center that’s sweet and creamy.

We sometimes use the word "cream" as a verb when describing a big loss in a competition between two teams or among a group of competitors:

• The Vikings got creamed last weekend. The score was 42 to 3.
• The businesses that we compete against are creaming us in U.S. sales.

Note: Cream was the name of a popular British rock band in the late 1960s. Among their many hits are Sunshine of Your Love, White Room, Crossroads, and Strange Brew.

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November 18, 2012