Cool Whip is an American brand of whipped topping manufactured by

Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz (), is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and the H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is t ...

. It is used in North America as a topping for desserts, and in some no-bake pie recipes as a convenience food or ingredient that does not require physical whipping and can maintain its texture without melting over time. Cool Whip is sold frozen and must be defrosted in the

refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...

before being used. It has a longer shelf life than cream while frozen. On the other hand, it does not have the same flavor or texture as whipped cream, and costs nearly 50% more per ounce. It was originally marketed as being " non-dairy" despite containing the

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

casein; it now also includes skimmed milk.

Overview

It was introduced in 1966 by the Birds Eye division of

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

, now part of

. Within two years of introduction, it became the largest and most profitable product in the Birds Eye line of products. Cool Whip is now the most consumed brand of whipped topping in the U.S. Cool Whip was created in 1966 by food scientist William A. Mitchell. The key advantage of his invention was that the product could be distributed frozen. Cool Whip is manufactured in Avon, New York, for the American and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

markets. It is sold frozen in eight-ounce (226-gram) and larger plastic tubs and is refrigerated prior to serving. Each nine-gram serving provides 25 kcal (105 kJ) of energy, of which 1.5 grams or 15 kcal (63 kJ) are from fat. Varieties offered include Original, Extra Creamy, Light, Free ( fat-free), and

Sugar-Free A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Ar ...

(made with NutraSweet). In Canada, the fat-free variety is labeled as Ultra-low Fat. Seasonal flavors include French vanilla,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

, and sweet

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

, all introduced in 2011;

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

and peppermint, introduced in 2016; and cheesecake, introduced in 2017. Cool Whip remains the most popular brand of whipped topping in the United States, with Reddi-wip (whipped cream in an aerosol can) ranking second. Dream Whip is another brand of whipped dessert topping, but is sold as a powder.

Ingredients

Cool Whip Original is made of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, hydrogenated vegetable oil (including

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

and palm kernel oils), high fructose corn syrup,

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup that is made from the starch of corn/maize and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften Mouthfeel, texture, add vol ...

, skimmed milk, light cream (less than 2%), sodium caseinate, natural and artificial flavor,

xanthan Xanthan gum () is a polysaccharide with many industrial uses, including as a common food additive. It is an effective thickening agent and stabilizer (food), stabilizer that prevents ingredients from separating. It can be produced from monosaccha ...

and

guar The guar (from : gvār) or cluster bean, with the botanical name ''Cyamopsis tetragonoloba'', is an annual plant, annual legume and the source of guar gum. It is also known as gavar, gawar, or guvar bean. The genus name ''Cyamopsis'' means '' ...

gums, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, sodium polyphosphate, and beta carotene (as a colouring). Cool Whip is available in an aerosol can using

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room te ...

as a

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicle ...

. From its introduction, Cool Whip was labeled and advertised as non-dairy, but as of 2018 it contains skimmed milk and sodium caseinate, a milk derivative. Even before the skimmed milk was introduced, Cool Whip was classified in Jewish dietary traditions as dairy because of the sodium caseinate.

References

General and cited references

* William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi
''History of Non-dairy Whip Topping, Coffee Creamer, Cottage Cheese, and Icing/Frosting (With and Without Soy) (1900-2013): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook''
SoyInfo Center, 2013

External links

* {{Milk substitutes Products introduced in 1966 Brand name desserts Kraft Foods brands Imitation foods Creamy dishes

Overview

Ingredients

See also

References

General and cited references

External links