1. The Science of things that are delicious
Dr. Laurie Solis

2. Cow-ology 101
This is a cow

3. Cow-ology 101
From cows, we get delicious things, like butter, whipped cream, buttermilk, milk, and cheese
From cows, we get delicious things, like butter, whipped cream, buttermilk, milk, and cheese

4. Cow-ology 101 When a cow is milked, the milk it produces is ‘raw’
It contains milk and cream
The cream is separated during pasteurization
Cream is the fat in the milk, but cream also has water in it.
By shaking the cream, you make the fat globules burst and stick together, thus separating themselves from the water (buttermilk)

5. Why does cream become puffy when you whip it?
Cream is basically fat-full, low-protein milk; if you leave fresh milk alone to stand then globules of fat naturally float up to the surface and bob around, creating a fatty creamy layer of deliciousness that can be skimmed off the top, leaving the majority of the protein behind. This cream, with its high fat content, can be whipped.

6. Why does cream become puffy when you whip it?
Whipping creates air bubbles. This is actually true in any liquid, if you whisk water it becomes bubbly, however the bubbles have no strength and are liable to pop at any moment. If you are going to create a solid mass of trapped air bubbles, you need something to keep them in place. This is where fat comes in. Fat hates water; it cannot stand to be around it. This is why fat tends to form globules in water, it arranges itself so that only a small outer region that doesn’t mind the water faces outwards, leaving the rest of the cowardly molecules to hide themselves away from the big scary water. Whipping, however, disturbs the fat. The globules are forced to whizz around the place and bash into one another. The protective membrane that shields the globules from the scary water is ripped away by all the whizzing and bashing. Fat is suddenly naked in the face of the water.

7. Why does cream become puffy when you whip it?
This is not something that fat molecules can cope with; once they have been forced out of their globules they will choose to arrange themselves in one of two ways. Either they will face air, or they will face each other. Arranging themselves like this forces them to form a network of fat surrounding air bubbles, trapping them in place. And there you have it, stiff fluffy whipped cream.