Can You Freeze Half And Half? Detailed Guidelines

Half And Half To Coffee — Adding half and half to coffee will give you a better taste.

Can you freeze half and half? You certainly don’t want to waste the half and half left in the carton when you’ve only used a little. Then freezing will be the best way to preserve them for longer and be safe to use for the next time.

Dairy products are difficult to freeze, and so are half and half. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t freeze half and half. You absolutely can do it. Just follow a few rules.

Can You Freeze Half And Half?

Yes, absolutely! Half and half will be stored for the longest time in the freezer compartment. Just follow these steps and you will be able to freeze half and half with ease.

Step 1: Measuring the amount of half and half you need to use.

Step 2: Divide half and half in the carton into small ziplock bags.

Step 3: Place all ziplock bags on a tray.

Step 4: Label them with the date of freezing.

Step 5: Put the tray into the freezer.

Step 6: Wait for them to be solid and arrange them neatly in the freezer.

First, Let’s Find Out What Half And Half Is!

You can see a lot of half and half presented on shelves in the supermarket, but you may not know what the nature of half and half is. To understand in a simple way, half and half is a mixture of half whole milk and half light cream.

Sometimes you’ll want to use something that’s not as a liquid like milk but also not as thick as cream. That’s why half and half was created.

This mixture can be used in many soups, sauces, and desserts. Many people also use it when making coffee to create fat but not too thick, like when using cream, and not too liquid like when using fresh milk.

There are many brands of half and half, and depending on the brand, the fat content of half and half also varies. There are also fat-free half-and-half brands.

If you don’t want too much fat in your half and half, you can absolutely choose to buy non-fat half and half. In this type of half and half, milk fat has been replaced with other ingredients such as corn syrup and carrageenan, and other additives.

So, depending on your preference, you can choose from half and half brands with the desired ingredients. Or even, you can make your own half and half at home.

Ice Coffee Tall — Attractive coffee cup with half and half.

Let’s find out the exact definition of half and half.

Watch this video: What is Half & Half

The Best Part! Can You Freeze Half And Half?

Half and half are usually packed in cartons or small plastic cups. It’s not worth mentioning if they haven’t been opened yet, you have just to look at the expiration date in the carton.

However, once opened, their shelf life will not be as long as the first. Now, you might wonder if it can be half and half frozen or not. Absolutely yes!

The best way to prolong the shelf life of half and half is to freeze them. So, I will give you detailed step-by-step instructions so that you can freeze half and half properly.

What You Need:

Ziplock bags
A flat tray
A measuring cup
Labels and a pen

How To Do:

Step 1: Use a measuring cup to measure the amount of half and half you want to freeze relative to the amount of half and half you want to use for the recipes.

Step 2: Pour the half and half into the ziplock bags and seal the mouth of it. Make sure to remove as many air bubbles from the bag as possible.

Step 3: Place all half and half filled ziplock bags on a tray. Remember to let the bags lie flat.

Step 4: Put a label on the bag and write the date that you start freezing.

Step 5: Put the entire tray into the freezer compartment. Remember not to open the freezer door frequently to avoid affecting the freezing process.

Step 6: After about 2 hours, the bags containing half and half have shown signs of solidification. You can take them out of the tray and put them in the freezer more neatly.

If you want to freeze half and half for coffee, you can use the same method as above. But instead of pouring the half and half directly into the ziplock bags, you can pour them into the ice cube tray first. Wait for the half and half to freeze, then take them out and put them in ziplock bags.

However, there is a small caveat. If you want to use frozen half and half for your coffee, you’ll need to defrost it first to make sure your drink is blended.

Freezing Half In Half — Freezing half in half in the ice cube tray to use for coffee later.

Apply these tips to freeze your half and half. You can see this video to know more:

Watch this video: How To Freeze Dairy Products

Is It A Good Idea To Freeze Half And Half In The Carton?

As mentioned earlier, the best way to freeze half and half is to divide them into small pieces. However, if you feel too lazy to do those steps, you might want to consider leaving the half and half whole in the carton and frozen. But I don’t recommend this method.

Why do I say that? Half and half will expand during freezing, but the carton will not. So make sure you regularly check to avoid half and half overflow. If there are cracks in the cartons, take them out immediately and repack them before putting them in the freezer again.

Another disadvantage of this method is that you are forced to defrost the whole thing just to get a small amount when you want to use half and half again. The leftovers will be wasted.

It is not good at all to freeze them again because the half and half have been altered in texture and are even dangerous to your body.

So my conclusion is, you can freeze half and half in a carton, but you shouldn’t do that. What you do simply at first may bring you more trouble.

Half And Half In Carton — It’s not recommended to freeze half and half in the carton.

The Best Method To Thaw Frozen Half And Half

As I said, you can absolutely use frozen half and half in some recipes. However, to get the most out of what half and half can bring to your dishes, I think you should still defrost them.

The simplest and most effective way to defrost half and half is to put them in the refrigerator. This is how frozen half and half can reduce sudden texture changes due to temperature.

Step 1:

Take the half and half out of the freezer and transfer them to the fridge for defrosting. This step will take you a few hours, but try to wait.

After the half and half have been defrosted, the butterfat will curdle, and the milk will therefore separate.

Step 2:

Use a whisk to mix the mixture again. At this point, your half and half will be restored to the original. And you can safely use it in all recipes that require half and half.

Half And Half Keep Fast Or Long Depends On Many Factors

If you’ve read the post so far, you probably already know how to freeze half and half. But wait… how long can all you do to prolong the shelf life of half and half? If it only lasts a few more days, perhaps what you have spent just now is not worth it.

Comparison Chart:

For easy visualization and comparison, you can see the table below and draw your own comments. At the same time, find a solution that suits your needs.

	In the fridge	In the freezer
Opened half and half	7-10 days	Up to 3 months
Unopened half and half	1-2 weeks after expiration date	Not recommended
Opened defrosted half and half	3-4 days	Not recommended

Half And Half In The Fridge

If you just bought halves and halves from the supermarket and haven’t used them yet, or have used a few, you can store them both in the refrigerator.

Unopened Half And Half

Of course, when buying anything from the supermarket, you also need to consider its shelf life. Half and half too, if you buy it and don’t intend to use it right away, check the packaging to see how long its shelf life is.

If you keep them constantly in the fridge, they can even last 1-2 weeks longer than the expiration date stated on the package.

The Expiration Half And Half — Pay attention to the expiration of half and half in the package.

Opened Half And Half

After opening the half and half, you can also store it in the refrigerator if you have not used it all yet. Thus, your half and half can be kept for 7-10 days. This is an effortless way to extend the shelf life of half and half a little longer.

Half And Half In The Freeze:

Of course, freezing is always the method of preserving food for the longest time. Half and half is no exception; you can keep frozen half and half for up to 3 months without affecting taste or texture.

3 months is quite a long time for you to come up with many recipes with half and half and use them all. Can you rest assured that this expensive food is not wasted?

Defrosted Half And Half

Finally, it is the half and half that have been defrosted. There are a few recipes that don’t require you to thaw half and half before using. But there are a few other recipes where this is required, such as coffee.

Therefore, you also need to pay attention to the usable time of half and half after defrosting. Specifically, half and half after thawing can continue to be used for 3-4 days. At this time, they still retain the flavor they should have.

However, absolutely do not continue to put the leftovers in the freezer again. Because freezing many times will cause the texture and taste of half and half to change, even go rancid.

Discover The Reason That Half And Half Keep Longer Than Milk

Although a dairy product, half and half can often last longer than milk and other dairy products. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, it is due to the fat content in the half and half. The high-fat content in the half and half helps keep it away from the growth of harmful bacteria. Why do I say that?

Science has proven that the ingredient that attracts bacteria in milk is not fat but water. So when a dairy product has a higher fat content, this reduces the risk of bacteria growth.

Second, the manufacturing process is also a factor that helps half and half keep longer. Both half and half and milk have to go through a pasteurization process ⁽¹⁾ before being packaged and put on the market.

However, it is important that half and half are sterilized at a higher temperature, namely 257F. Meanwhile, regular milk is only pasteurized at 160F. This will obviously help the half and half last longer.

Of course, this is only true for half and half that are machine-made and have a professional process. If you make your own half and half at home, it’s a different story.

Half And Half Keep Longer — Half and half keep longer than other dairy products.

Half And Half Vs. Heavy Cream

Half and half and heavy cream are interchangeable in many recipes. However, this is not entirely applicable to all recipes that require specific elements of these two products. So what’s the difference between them?

Comparison Chart:

Take a look at this table and you will easily spot the difference between heavy cream and half and half.

Half and half	Heavy cream
Fat content is 10 to 18%	Fat content is 36 to 40%
Cannot make whipped cream	Can make whipped cream
Usually being added to coffee	Usually being added to soups and sauces

Half And Half

As a general rule, to be considered a mixture of cream and milk as half and half, the ratio of milk and cream should be 1:1. At the same time, it must contain a certain amount of fat from 10.5% to 18%. These are the necessary conditions for half and half.

Heavy Cream

Not a mixture like half and half, heavy cream is just cream. And the fat content of heavy cream is from 36% to 40%. Obviously, with such a fat content, the calories of heavy cream are also about twice that of half and half.

The Key Difference

As you can see, the biggest difference between half and half and heavy cream is the fat content. Although there is only one difference, it also says a lot.

If you want to reduce the fat content of your recipe, half and half would be a good choice for heavy cream. However, if you’re going to make whipped cream, make sure the recipe contains heavy cream, not half and half.

The fat content in the half and half is not enough to make the cream puff and hold the whipped cream shape. In addition, heavy cream will also create the richer and thicker feel that you need in a whipped cream recipe.

It’s Easy To Make Your Own Half And Half At Home

Looking at the half and half boxes on the supermarket shelves at very high prices, you might think that making half and half is something difficult. But no, it’s much simpler than you think.