Argentine equivalent to half-and-half?
 

We're about to escape the Texas summer for a month in Bs As, as we do every year. I've been meaning to ask this for quite a while... Is there an Argentine equivalent to U.S. half-and-half, for coffee?

One time I tried crema, but that was a semi-solid, so I usually buy leche entera. Is there something closer to half-and-half that I can easily buy at Disco/Coto/Carrefour?

In most countries of the world, we tend not to skim milk, just to mix it up with cream afterwards :p

Whole milk (leche entero) would be an obvious choice.

I haven't found a good substitute. I just buy whole milk (after ruining my coffee on previous trips with the wrong thing) and just know I will not enjoy my coffee as much in Argentina.

You want to use lechera condensada.

Is leche condensada sweetened milk in a can, like in the U.S.? If so, that might be a bit much.

Yes, we've gotten accustomed to using leche entera and not enjoying it as much. It's a struggle to find decent coffee -- the specialty shops are too expensive and the common Argentine brands (con azucar) are nasty, so we generally look for some Colombian or Brazilian in the super market.

I bring my own. I've bought some expensive-ish premium brand in the market and it is still pretty crappy.

Yes my search for decent coffee beans still continues after years of testing. To be honest I've given up hope. Even expensive beans bought from Cafe Martinez tasted very weak. At the moment I use Casa Do Cafe off of the guy who comes every Monday from BA to deliver then to all the cafes in the town....it's the best yet although nowhere near as good as a average variety bought in a UK supermarket.
I think I need to buy a espresso machine and milk frother to get the best out of the beans as the same coffee tastes better when had in a cafe.

Was being a bit facetious but that's the way coffee is drunk in SE Asia to disguise the bad (or at least very strong and robusta)coffee.

What is half and half anyway? Can it not be made combining milk and cream or are the Argentinean raw ingredients just not very good?

Is it because of the way Argentineans roast their coffee (to espresso standards)? Maybe try a stove top espresso first before splurging on machine. Or maybe try roasting your own. :D

I found the coffee from Brazil to be gut rot (probably 100% robusta if brewed with a drip.

I was wondering if these were actually the same beans. I've brought "cafe" brands in the stores and while going out and having coffee is pretty good, having it at home is not. It sounds like you are getting the exact beans. Other than going to Brazil, I don't know if there is much hope for you. You could go to Chile to stock up, but most of the country is just starting to kick the Nescafe habit! :D

By the way - and this is getting off topic even more (this started out as coffee whitener) - if you are bringing coffee to Argentina, and have a stop over (not just a connection) in Chile, be sure to declare it. You can keep it, but it is subject to multa for not declaring.

U.S. "half and half" is a mixture of whole milk and cream, making a very light cream that is great for coffee. It's widely used and available in every grocery. It would be possible to make it in Bs As by combining leche entera and crema, but not very convenient.

As for coffee, I've found "100% Colombian arabica" at the supermercado, and for a while the Disco carried a Melitta Brazilian 100% arabica that was actually pretty good and not expensive.

They call the stuff as Creamo up here but the same dairy conglomerate also sells something called Coffee Cream which has a higher milk fat %age, and then they sell a light cream for those wanting a less cream coffee. Just wondering if there was any special alchemy.

Looking at the label of Clover Half and Half, "Ingredients: Milk and Cream"

There are 3g of fat for 30ml.

21 CFR 131.180

PART 131 - MILK AND CREAM

subpart b - REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFIC STANDARDIZED MILK AND CREAM

131.180 - Half - and - half.

(a) Description. Half-and-half is the food consisting of a mixture of milk and cream which contains not less than 10.5 percent but less than 18 percent milkfat. It is pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized, and may be homogenized.

(b) Optional ingredients. The following safe and suitable optional ingredients may be used: (1) Emulsifiers.

(2) Stabilizers.

(3) Nutritive sweeteners.

(4) Characterizing flavoring ingredients (with or without coloring) as follows: (i) Fruit and fruit juice (including concentrated fruit and fruit juice).

(ii) Natural and artificial food flavoring.

(c) Methods of analysis. The milkfat content is determined by the method prescribed in Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 13th Ed. (1980), in sections 16.156 and 16.059, under Fat, Roese-Gottlieb MethodOfficial Final Action, which is incorporated by reference. Copies may be obtained from the AOAC INTERNATIONAL, 481 North Frederick Ave., suite 500, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 2027416030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal_regi...locations.html.

(d) Nomenclature. The name of the food is Half-and-half. The name of the food shall be accompanied on the label by a declaration indicating the presence of any characterizing flavoring, as specified in 101.22 of this chapter.

(1) The following terms shall accompany the name of the food wherever it appears on the principal display panel or panels of the label in letters not less than one-half the height of the letters used in such name: (i) The word ultra-pasteurized if the food has been ultra-pasteurized.

(ii) The word sweetened if no characterizing flavor ingredients are used, but nutritive sweetener is added.

(2) The following terms may appear on the label: (i) The word pasteurized if the food has been pasteurized.

(ii) The word homogenized if the food has been homogenized.

(e) Label declaration. Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on the label as required by the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of this chapter.

[42 FR 14360, Mar. 15, 1977, as amended at 47 FR 11825, Mar. 19, 1982; 49 FR 10092, Mar. 19, 1984; 54 FR 24893, June 12, 1989; 58 FR 2891, Jan.

6, 1993]


Read more: http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/131-180-half...#ixzz0whxunvyg

I've often wondered why the beans are so poor here. I could understand it if they were inexpensive but they're not especially when compared to the price of a better quality product you can get in the UK for the same price. I can only think in order to maximise profit they just sell poorer quality beans at a inflated price.

Exact same Casa Do Cafe product as the guy delivers to the cafes here. I just find it doesn't have a very coffee flavour if you know what I mean. Using more quantity makes it stronger but the flavour doesn't improve. The Casa Do Cafe is about the best I've had so far. In the cafe it is quite acceptable though so that makes me think it might be the machine I use.

BTW..In Scotland a "half and a half" means a measure of whisky in one glass and a half pint of beer in another which you order in a pub. I didn't know it was to do with milk/cream.

Are you getting Campo Seconds?

Hope not. :eek:

Got the Cafe Martinez beans during a day trip to BA and for hours looked forward to getting home to try them. What a flipping anti climax that was. :td: