The Queasy Yet Accurate Name British People Call Canned Whipped Cream

There's quite a bit of disconnect in how American and British people refer to different foods. What Americans call shrimp, Brits call prawns, and what people in the United States call fries, in the United Kingdom they call chips. Some of these differences have become well-known, having been highlighted in movies and other media. But a trip across the pond might leave you confused when you hear conflicting names of food you haven't even considered.

In the United Kingdom, what Americans call canned whipped cream is referred to as squirty cream. The name is derived from how it's served — squirted from a can's nozzle directly onto food. Like American whipped cream, it's used on ice cream, cakes, and other sweet food and desserts. Though the U.K.'s squirty cream is the same as America's canned whipped cream, it shouldn't be confused with Britain's double cream. Double cream is similar to what Americans call heavy cream or whipping cream, but the difference between double cream and heavy cream is that the former's 48% fat content makes it much richer. In comparison, whipping cream contains 36% fat.

Whipped cream, or at least the concept of it, was around long before it was made in cans — therefore, long before squirty cream. Though it's impossible to pin down exactly, references indicate the first use of whipped cream was at a 1661 celebration of King Louis XIV. 

In a way, Britain is responsible for the cream's eventual integration into cans. That's because food-purposed aeration systems utilizing nitrous oxide were first invented by U.K. scientists in the 1930s. Nitrous oxide, or N₂O, is the gas placed in such cans that combines with whipping cream to create the fluffiness, texture, and appearance found in the dispensed product — squirty cream. About 30 years later, cans of squirty cream could be found on the shelves of British grocery stores.

Regardless of what you call it, whipped cream is a dominating force in the dessert industry. In the United States, an estimated 208.85 million people will consume whipped topping in 2024, per Statista. Globally the market is expected to grow to $6 billion by 2030, according to the Global Whipped Topping Market Report (via MarketWatch). Just as whipped cream can be enjoyed in many ways, it can also be acquired in numerous ways, by purchasing it in a can, or by checking out this homemade whipped cream recipe.