Milk vs. Cream — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on September 20, 2023
Milk is the liquid produced by mammals to feed their young, while cream is the thick, fatty part of milk that rises to the top. Both are dairy products with differing fat contents.
Difference Between Milk and Cream
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Milk is a nutritious liquid secreted by mammals, particularly used as a primary source of nourishment for their young. It's a staple in many diets and is the foundation for many other dairy products.
Cream, on the other hand, is a dairy product that's derived from milk. It's the rich, fatty layer that rises to the top when milk is left to stand. Its consistency is thicker than that of milk and it is often used in cooking and baking due to its fat content.
While milk serves as a vital source of calcium and vitamins, cream is more indulgent, often used to add richness to dishes. Cream's higher fat content makes it suitable for whipping, a property milk doesn't have.
Though both milk and cream originate from the same source, their uses in the culinary world vary significantly. Milk is often consumed on its own or used as a base in various recipes, while cream is frequently utilized for its texture and richness.
In summary, while both milk and cream are dairy derivatives, their difference lies in their fat content, consistency, and culinary applications.
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Comparison Chart
Nature
Liquid produced by mammals
Fatty layer derived from milk
Fat Content
Lower fat content
Higher fat content
Consistency
Liquid
Thicker, can be semi-solid
Culinary Uses
Drinking, base for many recipes
Adds richness, can be whipped
Derivation
Directly from mammals
Extracted from milk
Compare with Definitions
Milk
A white liquid produced by mammals for nourishment.
She poured milk into her cereal.
Cream
A soft, thick substance used for cosmetic or medicinal purposes.
She applied a moisturizing cream to her face.
Milk
The liquid from certain plants resembling mammal milk.
Almond milk is a popular dairy alternative.
Cream
To beat ingredients until they are soft and smooth.
She creamed the butter and sugar together.
Milk
Milk (also known in unfermented form as sweet milk) is a nutrient-rich liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals, including breastfed human infants before they are able to digest solid food.
Cream
The best part or elite of something.
The students in the honors program are the cream of the crop.
Milk
An opaque white fluid rich in fat and protein, secreted by female mammals for the nourishment of their young
A healthy mother will produce enough milk for her baby
Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top.
Milk
Draw milk from (a cow or other animal), either by hand or mechanically
Two hours later he was up again to milk the cows
I had to start the milking
Cream
The yellowish fatty component of unhomogenized milk that tends to accumulate at the surface.
Milk
Exploit or defraud by taking small amounts of money over a period of time
Executives milked the health plan's funds for their personal use
Cream
Any of various substances resembling or containing cream
Hand cream.
Milk
A whitish liquid containing proteins, fats, lactose, and various vitamins and minerals that is produced by the mammary glands of all mature female mammals after they have given birth and serves as nourishment for their young.
Cream
A pale yellow to yellowish white.
Milk
The milk of cows, goats, or other animals, used as food by humans.
Cream
The choicest part
The cream of the crop.
Milk
Any of various potable liquids resembling milk, such as coconut milk or soymilk.
Cream
To form cream.
Milk
A liquid resembling milk in consistency, such as milkweed sap or milk of magnesia.
Cream
To form foam or froth at the top.
Milk
To draw milk from the teat or udder of (a female mammal).
Cream
To have an orgasm.
Milk
To draw or extract a liquid from
Milked the stem for its last drops of sap.
Cream
To be excited or delighted about something.
Milk
To press out, drain off, or remove (a liquid)
Milk venom from a snake.
Cream
To remove the cream from; skim.
Milk
To draw out or extract something from
Milked the witness for information.
Cream
To take or remove (the best part)
Creamed off the highest-paying jobs for her cronies.
Milk
To obtain money or benefits from, in order to achieve personal gain; exploit
"The dictator and his cronies had milked their country of somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion" (Russell Watson).
Cream
To take the best part from
Creamed the whole department to form his management team.
Milk
To obtain the greatest possible advantage from (a situation).
Cream
To beat into a creamy consistency.
Milk
To get the greatest effect from (a line or scene in a play, for example).
Cream
To prepare or cook in or with a cream sauce.
Milk
To yield or supply milk.
Cream
To add cream to.
Milk
To draw milk from a female mammal.
Cream
To defeat overwhelmingly
Creamed our rival on their home court.
Milk
(uncountable) A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt.
Skyr is a product made of curdled milk.
Cream
To damage severely; destroy
My camera got creamed when I dropped it.
Milk
A white (or whitish) liquid obtained from a vegetable source such as almonds, coconuts, oats, rice, and/or soy beans.
Cream
Vulgar Slang To have an orgasm in (one's pants, for example).
Milk
An individual serving of milk.
Table three ordered three milks.
Cream
The butterfat/milkfat part of milk which rises to the top; this part when separated from the remainder.
Take 100 ml of cream and 50 grams of sugar…
Milk
An individual portion of milk, such as found in a creamer, for tea and coffee.
I take my tea with two milks and two sugars.
I take my tea with two milk and two sugar.
Cream
The liquid separated from milk, possibly with certain other milk products added, and with at least eighteen percent of it milkfat.
Milk
The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster.
Cream
The liquid separated from milk containing at least 18 percent milkfat (48% for double cream).
Milk
Semen.
Cream
(tea and coffee) A portion of cream, such as the amount found in a creamer.
I take my coffee with two cream and three sugar.
Milk
(transitive) To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow).
The farmer milked his cows.
Cream
A yellowish white colour; the colour of cream.
Milk
To draw (milk) from the breasts or udder.
To milk wholesome milk from healthy cows
Cream
(informal) Frosting, custard, creamer, or another substance similar to the oily part of milk or to whipped cream.
Milk
To secrete (milk) from the breasts or udder.
Cream
(figuratively) The best part of something.
The cream of the crop
The cream of a collection of books or pictures
Milk
(transitive) To express a liquid from a creature.
The Australian government has a team that regularly milks various snakes for venom to use creating serums and antivenoms.
Cream
(medicine) A viscous aqueous oil/fat emulsion with a medicament added, used to apply that medicament to the skin. (compare with ointment)
You look really sunburnt; you should apply some cream.
Milk
To make excessive use of (a particular point in speech or writing, a source of funds, etc.); to exploit; to take advantage of (something).
When the audience began laughing, the comedian milked the joke for more laughs.
Cream
Semen.
Milk
(of an electrical storage battery) To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation.
Cream
(obsolete) The chrism or consecrated oil used in anointing ceremonies.
Milk
To single-mindedly masturbate a male to ejaculation, especially for the amusement or satisfaction of the masturbator rather than the person masturbated.
Controlled milking can actually establish and consolidate a mistress’s dominance over her sub rather than diminish it.
Cream
Cream-coloured; having a yellowish white colour.
Milk
A white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young, consisting of minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, albumin, milk sugar, and inorganic salts.
Cream
To puree, to blend with a liquifying process.
Cream the vegetables with the olive oil, flour, salt and water mixture.
Milk
A kind of juice or sap, usually white in color, found in certain plants; latex. See Latex.
Cream
To turn a yellowish white colour; to give something the color of cream.
Milk
An emulsion made by bruising seeds; as, the milk of almonds, produced by pounding almonds with sugar and water.
Cream
(slang) To obliterate, to defeat decisively.
We creamed the opposing team!
Milk
The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster.
Cream
To ejaculate used of either gender.
Milk
To draw or press milk from the breasts or udder of, by the hand or mouth; to withdraw the milk of.
I have given suck, and knowHow tender 't is to love the babe that milks me.
Cream
To ejaculate in (clothing or a bodily orifice).
Milk
To draw from the breasts or udder; to extract, as milk; as, to milk wholesome milk from healthy cows.
Cream
To rub, stir, or beat (butter) into a light creamy consistency.
Milk
To draw anything from, as if by milking; to compel to yield profit or advantage; to plunder.
They [the lawyers] milk an unfortunate estate as regularly as a dairyman does his stock.
Cream
(transitive) To skim, or take off by skimming, as cream.
Milk
To draw or to yield milk.
Cream
To take off the best or choicest part of.
Milk
To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation; - said of a storage battery.
Cream
(transitive) To furnish with, or as if with, cream.
Milk
A white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings
Cream
(intransitive) To gather or form cream.
Milk
Produced by mammary glands of female mammals for feeding their young
Cream
The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is obtained.
Milk
A river that rises in the Rockies in northwestern Montana and flows eastward to become a tributary of the Missouri River
Cream
The part of any liquor that rises, and collects on the surface.
Milk
Any of several nutritive milklike liquids
Cream
A delicacy of several kinds prepared for the table from cream, etc., or so as to resemble cream.
Milk
Take milk from female mammals;
Cows need to be milked every morning
Cream
A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.
In vain she tries her paste and creams,To smooth her skin or hide its seams.
Milk
Exploit as much as possible;
I am milking this for all it's worth
Cream
The best or choicest part of a thing; the quintessence; as, the cream of a jest or story; the cream of a collection of books or pictures.
Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant.
Milk
Add milk to;
Milk the tea
Cream
To skim, or take off by skimming, as cream.
Milk
A primary source of nutrition for mammalian young.
The kitten eagerly drank its mother's milk.
Cream
To take off the best or choicest part of.
Milk
To extract liquid or benefit from something.
He milked the situation to his advantage.
Cream
To furnish with, or as with, cream.
Creaming the fragrant cups.
Milk
A base for many dairy products.
Cheese is made by curdling milk.
Cream
To form or become covered with cream; to become thick like cream; to assume the appearance of cream; hence, to grow stiff or formal; to mantle.
There are a sort of men whose visagesDo cream and mantle like a standing pool.
Cream
The best people or things in a group;
The cream of England's young men were killed in the Great War
Cream
The part of milk containing the butterfat
Cream
Toiletry consisting of any of various substances resembling cream that have a soothing and moisturizing effect when applied to the skin
Cream
Make creamy by beating;
Cream the butter
Cream
Put on cream, as on one's face or body;
She creams her face every night
Cream
Remove from the surface;
Skim cream from the surface of milk
Cream
Add cream to one's coffee, for example
Cream
The fatty part of milk, often used in cooking.
She added cream to her coffee.
Cream
A pale yellow or off-white color.
The walls were painted a light cream.
Common Curiosities
Can you make milk from cream?
By diluting cream with water, you can mimic the consistency of milk, but the taste and nutritional profile will differ.
Can milk be used as a substitute for cream in recipes?
It depends on the recipe; milk can be used, but the result might be less rich than with cream.
Is cream just thick milk?
No, cream is the fatty layer of milk that rises to the top.
Why is cream thicker than milk?
Cream has a higher fat content than milk, making it thicker.
Can you whip milk like cream?
No, milk doesn't have the fat content needed to hold a whipped texture like cream.
Are there lactose-free versions of milk and cream?
Yes, there are lactose-free versions of both milk and cream available.
Is cream always dairy-based?
Most commonly, yes, but there are non-dairy cream alternatives like coconut cream.
How is cream separated from milk?
Cream rises naturally to the top of milk when left to stand and can be skimmed off.
Which has more calories, milk or cream?
Cream typically has more calories due to its higher fat content.
Why does milk turn into cream?
Milk doesn't turn into cream; cream is the fat-rich part of milk that separates when milk is left undisturbed.
Can you get milk from all mammals?
Most mammals produce milk, but not all mammal milks are commonly consumed by humans.
Can milk and cream be frozen?
Yes, both can be frozen, but it may alter their texture upon thawing.
Are milk and cream good sources of calcium?
Yes, both milk and cream are sources of calcium.
Is the cream used in skincare the same as in food?
No, while both are called cream, skincare products are mixtures of water and oils, different from dairy cream.
Which has a longer shelf life, milk or cream?
Both have similar shelf lives, but it can vary based on processing and additives.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
