I had the EXACT same reaction as you when I first saw it. It is a diary product with some kind of thickener in it. I thought I would hate it because it is such a phony, ridiculously named product. I think I ended up buying some for the same reason as you. I tried it and now I get it sometimes for my coffee, and use it occasionally to make something a little creamier. It is better than I expected. I can't do soy milk anymore and the other non-dairy milks just don't cut it for me in coffee, so the "fat free half and half" works OK for me. I can barely bring myself to type that name, lol! I wouldn't throw it out, you may find you can tolerate it. Oddly, I like it better than whole or 2% milk in my coffee. But half and half it aint.

ok, thanks for that good news, lpink! We'll see if I can screw up the courage to try it. lol! It also occurred to me that we may end up going to some get-together this weekend, so I could bring it along with coffee and dessert. ;^)

Oy. This must be a cousin of something my mother likes called "fat free sour cream", which is basically milk solids and gum.

I wish they wouldn't call it "cream" (or "half", because if it's not half cream and half milk, what's it half of?). They used to have to say "creme" if there wasn't any cream in it. Or maybe they can say "cream" because there's dairy in it? What's wrong with "Fat Free Dairy Creamer" and have "compare in use to half and half " in the small letters.

I haven't used it before but I do use fat free sour cream and it is fine for me. Not the same but not bad either. Really the only fat free product I do use. Like the difference between skinless boneless chicken breasts and thighs...thighs are tastier but the breast aren't bad.
But not like great fried chicken either....

It is disgusting. I bought it to try when we lived in Dunkirk, NY. I don't know what I was thinking. It has a weird, unpleasant flavour. I wouldn't put it in my coffee and would definitely not cook with it.

~Ann

I had the same reaction. Fat free half and half? Wouldn't that be skim milk? Weird.

I guess before they can make fat-free half-and-half, they must start with fat-free heavy cream, No?

Why not? They have fat-free butter.

dcarch

Just don't cook with it, it curdles very easily!

Here are the ingredients for land o' lakes brand:

Ingredients: Skim Milk, Corn Syrup, Cream*, Contains less than 0.5% of the following: Carrageenan, Sodium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono and Diglycerides*, Vitamin A Palmitate, Color Added (Ingredient not in regular half & half).

* Adds a trivial amount of fat

So something that is mostly corn syrup is supposed to be "healthier" than regular half and half?

I saw a recipe recently that called for this, which is what made me go look up the label. Ick.

Writersblock - Actually it's mostly skim milk. Corn syrup is second, but of note it's just above cream, of which there can't be much if they're considering it as adding a "trivial" amount of fat. So I guess the real question is what's the actual percentage. Quick math which I'll spare you says it's about 1/2 tsp of corn syrup per serving. And mind you this is corn syrup, not the controversial HFCS. Doesn't particularly bother me.

But that defense aside, looking at the rest of the ingredients there's not much there that wouldn't be in either regular pantry items like condensed milk or else in a "molecular gastronomist's" arsenal. All GRAS of course. (Generally Regarded as Safe, per FDA.) When big companies use these chemicals they're making crap artificial food which should be avoided at all costs, but when a certain breed of modernist chefs use the same chemicals, their creations are sheer genius. Ironic, huh? But as usual, I digress.

p.s. I try to avoid "fake" half and half and creamers.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Fri, Jul 4, 14 at 23:28

Good point, FOAS! But I looked at the ingredients for low fat evaporated milk, which I use when I want to make a quiche but don't want to eat a quiche (i.e., all that cream). It has dipotassium phosphate, too. :( Too much phosphorus in too many things. :( It's probably not as bad as all that cream, though Julia Child's quiche aux champignons made with heavy cream (though I skip the dots of butter), is, um, to die for (and of).

Quick math which I'll spare you says it's about 1/2 tsp of corn syrup per serving.

Curious as to how you arrived at this-- I realize ingredients are listed in the order of most first, but how do you extrapolate such an exact number here?

but how do you extrapolate such an exact number here?

How? Because it's pouring rain here and the Independence Day festivities got postponed to tomorrow and I got bored of cleaning the house on a holiday. ;-)

Seriously though, let's suppose that ALL of the 2g of sugars in 2T of LoL "half and half" are from corn syrup. 2T of the corn syrup I have on hand contains 20g sugar, meaning 1T has 10. Or 1t has 3.33g. 2/3.33= .66, which I (aggressively?) rounded down to 1/2 tsp.

BUT, now that you question it, I'm thinking there's a lot less corn syrup in it. Because a cup of skim milk seems to average 12 grams of sugar, which means that if the "half and half" were all skim milk, 2T would have 1.5 grams of sugar from the milk alone. Which means that roughly .5 gram sugar is attributed to corn syrup. So change my calculation to .5/3.33 = .15 which means a smidge over 1/8 tsp of corn syrup per 2 Tbsp serving.

Obviously there are other factors at play, and I'm half asleep as I'm doing the math so I welcome you to call me out on any inaccuracies, but I'd be surprised if I'm far off base by saying that a mere 4% of fat free half and half is corn syrup. The GRAS ingredients cause me more concern, whether warranted or not.

I've never noticed a taste difference in coffee, but then I'm no coffee aficionado and I tend to drink my coffee quite dark anyway. I've never used it in cooking, nor would attempt to.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 2:08

Thanks for taking the time to type al that, foodonastump!

That was some fancy ciphering FOAS! Be still my heart! ;) Batten down the hatches, BTW!

LP - The storm has passed and aside from the hydrangeas bowing from the force of the rains and an an overfilled pool, there's no trace of yesterday on this gorgeous day out in the Hamptons. No non-fat half and half here, but I wish there was considering the label on the coffee-mate creamer. I think I'll stick with Coronas.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 15:46

It always seemed like an oxymoron to me.

Clearly it's a way to cut down on the fat found in pure cream, but really - fat free? Just use skim milk

I think Land-o-Lakes makes a "low fat" version too, which might be 1/4 cream, 3/4 low fat milk and an assortment of chemicals?

Well, I don't exactly know why, but "pure" albeit ultra-pasteurized half and half aggravates my mild lactose intolerance. If you think fat free half and half tastes bad, you've probably not tried some of the milk alternatives for your coffee--rice milk anyone? :( Skim milk is actually one of the worst things for lactose intolerance. But so is any kind of milk really, half and half should be the least bothersome, but for me, it is just the same as all the rest. Don't know why the fat free half and half doesn't bother me, must be the carageenen offsets the lactose! :) I know, drink your coffee black, Lpink! I don't even LIKE coffee, but it is the only hot caffeinated beverage I can drink anymore with my various inflammatory problems. Again, tea is supposed to be very healthy with all the anti-oxidants, but it is something that bothers me the most.

As for "cooking" with fat free half and half, I don't cook with it, but if I have some in the fridge, and I want a bit of "milkiness" in a dish I will splash some in it. I do this mostly for soups and pasta sauces. But not all that often, I only buy fat free half and half occasionally. I can't find it locally right now so I use a mix of half and half and almond milk. I found out on here that soy interferes with thyroid medication, so I had to kick soy milk and soy-based non-dairy creamer to the curb.

I gotta find me a nice dairy farmer to befriend so I can get unpasteurized milk. Actually that doesn't work for me either since I use very little milk overall, just to lighten my coffee. Almost all the coffee "creamers" I buy go bad on me most of the time before I can use them up, hence my experimenting with other uses.

LPink, can you do coconut? I hear very good things about So Delicious Original Coconut Milk Coffee Creamer.

Hmmmm I bought 5% half-and-half once but I found that I was using more in my coffee. So negates the purpose, IMO.

I was just tossing my carton of half-and-half in the recycling and noticed on the side they are advertising Fat-Free half and half. 50% fewer calories and regular 10%.

Made by Lactantia.

I’m all for the heavy cream! I have 1 - 2 tablespoons in my coffee every morning. Very satisfying! 😋

I consider "fat free half and half" to be an oxymoron. When I was at a brunch where that was served instead of the real stuff (this is before I removed dairy from my coffee and still needed the white stuff), I just simply took that coffee black. I don't consume oxymorons.

My Mom had heart and cholesterol issues. If it weren't for FF 1/2&1/2 the only thing she could have used in her coffee was skim milk, which she referred to as "blue john" and wouldn't touch it. If you are healthy and have the choice that's great. I would not have deprived her of a good rich-tasting cup of coffee over a prejudice.

I almost don't want to dive into this conversation... ha ha! I was a half and half 'junkie' for a while - I used a bit in my coffee, and when my milk would go bad, I'd use half and half as a substitute (it just lasts longer). When my cholesterol decided to bump up, I switched to 'fat free' land o lakes half and half (among other changes) to cut back on saturated fats. Initially I thought it tasted unpleasant. But as with many things, one often (not always) gets used to the taste. When I drank more sodas (eons ago) and switched to sugar free, it was nasty, but after a while, it was fine, and now, when I drink a cola, which is not often these days, I refer to it as 'the hard stuff' because it's so sugary to my tastes - and it keeps me awake at night (does this mean I'm getting old?!). Same with the change from whole milk to skim. So, fat free half in half did help lower my cholesterol, among other things, and frankly, eventually tasted just fine, and I was fine with the ingredients - one looks at ingredients when one is cutting back or eliminating in some way.

I have to admit, I'm back to whole milk for the most part, and half and half. And truthfully, full fat half and half initially tasted far too rich. And yes, I keep heavy cream in the fridge too. But having said all this, if someone drinks fat free half and half, I say, fine. It's not nasty. There are nastier things out there. If one doesn't like the taste and prefers the real thing, that's fine too : )

Oh, and lpinkmountain, I agree, I'd far rather have fat free half and half than 2% milk in my coffee too.