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From the article:

>It's no easy feat to come up with a tasty-but-healthy alternative to one of our favorite treats. "The most difficult aspect of developing an alternative food is getting the texture right," said Risbo. "Whipped cream undergoes a unique transformation that occurs in a complex system where a high saturated fat content makes it possible to whip the cream stiff. So, how do we create an alternative where we avoid the high fat content, while still achieving the right consistency? This is where we need to think innovatively." > >Risbo and his colleagues only used four ingredients in their experiments: water, edible lactic acid bacteria, a little bit of milk protein, and a thickening agent. There are many kinds of lactic acid bacteria—the kind used by the food industry as a yogurt culture and to preserve cold cuts—and they are plentiful in nature, found in plants and in human/animal mucus membranes and digestive tracts. They also turn out to be ideal building blocks for foods and are roughly the same size as the fat globules in heavy whipping cream. > >The Danish team made both soft and stiffer versions of their prototype whipped cream using two different varieties of bacteria: Lactobacillus delbrueckii subs. lactis (LBD) and Lactobacillus crispatus (LBC). The LBC strain is more hydrophobic, producing a cream that is stiffer and retains liquid better than the concoction produced with LBD, which is hydrophilic. > >These experiments were primarily to demonstrate proof of concept, and the resulting foams were evaluated primarily for texture and desirable foamy characteristics—not for taste. So we're not likely to see canisters of "Lacti-Wip" on store shelves any time soon. But the experiments provided valuable insight into how best to create a non-dairy whipped cream alternative with a similar food structure.

It's promising to hear about these initial results with this topic of research, and it will be interesting to see what results from this in the future.

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I don't care about fat, but as a vegan this is super cool

I’d prefer to have real whipped cream but eat less of it.

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Yeah, but how does it taste?

Doesn't whipped cream barely have any calories to begin with? It's like 15 calories per serving or something right?

Yeah but does it make me crap my pants?

You're thinking of the canned stuff—sugar dissolved in skim milk, with xanthan gum to allow it to retain bubbles. Real whipped cream is much more caloric.

There’s still some milk protein involved in it’s production.

There is an easier way to avoid whipped cream.

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I feel like this is ultimately about cost, not health. How much whipped cream does the average person eat, anyway? Unless they can produce something that’s vegan AND tastes indistinguishable from real cream, IDGAF.

Sometimes the fat is worth it.

I’m curious as to how vegans will react to lab-grown animal products (like meat and dairy). Sounds like if the animal exploitation component is removed you’d be ok with consuming them?

(Obviously I do not expect you to speak for all vegans. Just curious.)

> Sounds like if the animal exploitation component is removed you’d be ok with consuming them?

Sure! As long as no part of the producing process involves harming or using animals in any way

Have you ever had actual whipped cream?

I guess as with most of the topic - different from one to the next. Vegans turn vegan for different reasons - connected to ethics. My main driver is climate change, biodiversity loss, with animal abuse important but a bit further down the list. (i.e. I don't think hunter gatherers were wrong - but they had a clear set of not taking too much and honouring what they killed ... so I am not entirely against, but very much so against the scale and the industrial nature of it; against lab research and against harm to animals). I would eat road kill, if I were living somewhere that'd be feasible - which means I am on a vegan diet, as the same person with stricter rules, but don't follow an absolute vegan philosophy.

[I'd choose wool over an oil-based or cotton wool t-shirt as the latter too are more damaging in relation to my core issues.]

So in this case - I'd want to look at energy costs, what it does to the big picture - i.e. what are the social outcomes. But I also eat vegan as a highly meat based diet just really isn't what we are designed for. And there's an aspect of power behind it, too - who is producing the lab meat and where do the profits go; what do they do with the profits?

I am partly vegan because "conventional" farming also contributes to biodiversity loss - and at least being more vegetable focused reduces, but doesn't eliminate that part. So ... loads a factors to see, observe, think through before I can have a clear ethical stance on it.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I recognize the complexity of the issue, and my intention wasn’t to oversimplify. Im very interested to see how this develops.

As long as there's still a nice bonus hit of nitrous in every can, sounds great.

Do... You.. want it to make you crap your pants?

Yeah, no way this tastes the same.

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Bacteria are not animals no

It says this was a proof of concept for texture only

It does still have milk in it, so…

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And much more delicious mmmmm mmmm!

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I draw the line at metazoa, everything else is fair game

Pay me to live with you, and I can eat all the whipped cream before you get a chance.

Aquafaba whipped cream is an option and far more readily available

I thought they had decided fat was good for you.

I’d say it’s probably not half as bad as the gross fake whip cream made from oil

You know you have bacteria on EVERYTHING right? Vegetables, fruits, the air, your skin…it’s virtually impossible to not eat bacteria. Even if you only ate sterilized food there is still bacteria in the air you breath, and in your guts.

Tastes like Tasty Wheat

Someday YOUR whipped topping could be made from beer-brewing residues or plants.

And we'll be eating bugs. God, the future sucks.

Whipped aqua faba is amazing and nearly identical to whipped cream.

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Yeah, these scientist clearly never heard of it.

Scientists: “We have made a whip creamed alternative!”

Vegans: “Oh nice, is it whipped bean water too?”

Scientists: “What? You can do that!”

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Most of the time these days it is, but I get what you mean

That nearly is very subjective, a lot of people have tried food replacement that “taste exactly the same” (they never do not even close)

I won't eat them as if they are true copies still unhealthy though ethically fine.

I was all set to criticize the focus on texture without mentioning how it tasted. Then I read the attention to consistency was apparently deliberate, and that working on taste would be next.

That makes sense to me. Texture and consistency tend to be much harder to replicate. Get that right, and taste is relatively easy to get right.

At least that's my interpretation.

Yeah I'd bet this is going to go anywhere. There's chemical receptors in your tongue, nose, and even gut that communicate the chemical makeup of something to your brain. And the reason that whipped cream tastes good is because the chemical makeup includes fats and sugars, which you're not going to replace with thickening agents and milk protein.

A better idea would be to understand why, or rather what, sugar and fat are bad for you and simply substitute them. Low glycemic index sweeteners would cut heart disease without any loss in taste, and dairy fats don't appear to have much affect on heart disease or the possible neurological effects fats can have. If they'd just make whipped cream with coconut sugar you'd have a relatively healthy substitute already.

Your "whipped cream", maybe. Imma stick with the real stuff.

Not a vegan but i would love lab grown meat. Its just so much safer than animal grown one.

its from lactic acid so lactose intollerant people will still crap their pants.

I was 100% not interested until it said, "beer-brewing"

Hunter gatherers wiped out megfauna pretty much everywhere they went across the globe. The idea of hunter gatherers in balance we with nature is largely a myth.

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It is. Avoiding the carbs is much more important.