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<\/a>\nAny well-stocked supermarket around these parts is likely to have a least one brand of crema, usually Mexican style and often Tropical brand. Note that Tropical refers to its product as \u201ccultured sour cream\u201d; I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s an actual distinction or just a clarification for the American marketplace. If you see it, try it; in the vernacular of cybershorthand, IMHO any crema > any sour cream. But if you want to take a deeper dive, and you should, it\u2019s easy to find Quesos La Ricura brand and others in Latin American neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The difference between these two brands of Crema Mexicana is both significant and subjective: for starters, Tropical is saltier. Regarding texture: I could be wrong but I find a lot of dairy products (including yogurt) seem to have upped the ante these days on guar gum content; it\u2019s a stabilizing and thickening agent made from guar beans and imparts a viscous, not quite sticky quality to whatever it \u201cenriches\u201d but doesn’t affect the flavor. (Note that all of the brands I sampled for this post use gums of one kind or another. So does your favorite ice cream.) In this case, Tropical is thicker but gummier and, based on my experience, enjoys a longer shelf life than Quesos La Ricura, enough to make me speculate about the fingerprint of higher guar gum content. Tasted good though.<\/p>\n
The nutritional info on the back of the jars as well as the ingredients listed on the front are identical; the color variations run from Honduran ivory though Guatemalan then Salvadoran and finally to Mexican snow-white.<\/p>\n Texture notes: Mexican and Honduran were the thinnest. Guatemalan is the heaviest, more like a hybrid of sour cream and cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche.<\/p>\n Flavor notes: Among the four, Salvadoran was rich, salt level just right, and a little sweet (my fave if you must know); Mexican was saltiest; Honduran was salty and a little more acidic, perhaps with barely a hint of cheesiness; and Guatemalan was less tart\/tangy than the others. In general, the Central American versions were a bit nuttier and richer than their Mexican counterparts.<\/p>\n But bear in mind that these are fine grades of distinction; YMMV based on your own personal taste and the age of the product. Age of the product? Read on….<\/p>\n Now, originally I thought that Guatemalan had a slight cheesy funkiness to it – but was it \u201con the edge\u201d? So I went back to Sunset Park (one example of what I meant by new wrinkles hindering me from finishing this post) and bought another jar of the same brand (the one evaluated but not photographed here). Curiously, this time it was in a shorter jar like the others and topped with a white cap. Was the first one past its prime? I used it well before its sell-by date. I\u2019ve decided that those dates should be taken with a grain of salt (ahem); technically, these all still have a month to go but I know there\u2019s no way they\u2019re all going to survive that long. Is it this particular brand or the store\u2019s handling of it? We\u2019ll never know. But don\u2019t let that deter you: get one with a distant sell-by date and you\u2019ll most likely be fine.<\/p>\n Also be aware that the variations from brand to brand are almost more important than their national styles. But in general, cremas are all richer and runnier than sour cream and that\u2019s really what you\u2019re after, especially if you’re not doing an OCD A\/B comparison.<\/p>\n And I won\u2019t even begin to talk about the commercial products that come in plastic bags, or even better, unlabeled plastic bags in the dairy case \u2013 that\u2019s the housemade stuff and usually worth getting.<\/p>\n But now, a problem has emerged: What am I supposed to do with all this crema in the fridge? Expect to see some home cooking where I\u2019ve swapped it in for sour cream, yogurt, cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche or even buttermilk. My plan had been to do a definitive roundup of the varieties of crema, but read on…. Continue reading <\/a>
\nBut Mexican crema only begins to plumb the depths; here are examples of Salvadoran, Honduran and Guatemalan cremas as well to champion their own rendition of this (literally) crowning achievement, each proudly displaying its flag and crowing \u201cpara el gusto de nuestros pueblos\u201d.<\/em> Gotta love it. <\/p>\n
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\nBut if you see me putting it in my coffee…send help.
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