Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization.

It can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets, and contains high levels of saturated fat.

Cream produced by cattle (particularly Jersey cattle) grazing on natural pasture often contains some carotenoid pigments derived from the plants they eat; traces of these intensely colored pigments give milk a slightly yellow tone, hence the name of the yellowish-white color: cream.

[8] Specific product characteristics are generally uniform throughout Canada, but names vary by both geographic and linguistic area and by manufacturer: "coffee cream" may be 10 or 18 percent cream and "half-and-half" (crème légère) may be 3, 5, 6 or 10 percent, all depending on location and brand.

For whipping cream, allowed additives include skim milk powder (≤ 0.25%), glucose solids (≤ 0.1%), calcium sulphate (≤ 0.005%), and xanthan gum (≤ 0.02%).

Even if food additives complying with French and European laws are allowed, usually, none will be found in plain "crèmes" and "crèmes fraîches" apart from lactic ferments (some low cost creams (or close to creams) can contain thickening agents, but rarely).

[20] In the United States, cream is usually sold as: Not all grades are defined by all jurisdictions, and the exact fat content ranges vary.

The above figures, except for "manufacturer's cream", are based on the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Part 131.

Smetana is a heavy cream-derived (15–40% milk fat) Central and Eastern European sweet or sour cream.

Rjome or rømme is Norwegian sour cream containing 35% milk fat, similar to Icelandic sýrður rjómi.

Clotted cream in the United Kingdom is made through a process that starts by slowly heating whole milk to produce a very high-fat (55%) product, similar to Indian malai.

[27] In other languages, cognates of "cream" are also sometimes used for non-food products, such as fogkrém (Hungarian for toothpaste), or Sonnencreme (German for sunscreen).

are blends of buttermilk or lentils and vegetable oil with other additives sold by Upfield in the United Kingdom packaged and shelved in the same way as cream, labelled as having "a creamy taste".