Smartwhip Cream Dispenser

A 500 ml Smartwhip siphon supplied with three decorating tips. Half a litre of working capacity makes it a front-line dispenser for a pastry section or a bar rather than a garnish tool. It takes standard 8 g cream chargers directly.

500 ml or 250 ml?

Capacity is the whole decision. At 500 ml you recharge half as often through a busy service, which matters on a pass that cannot stop. At 250 ml you waste less when a service ends with cream still in the vessel, and you can run several siphons with different preparations. Plating sections tend to want the smaller ones; a bar running one cream all night wants this.

Using it

Add cream and any sugar or flavouring, thread in a charger, shake for about thirty seconds, dispense. Smartwhip states cream made this way keeps refrigerated for up to two weeks without preservatives — that is the manufacturer’s figure, not a test we have run.

Looking after it

Strip and wash the head after every service; dried cream in the valve is what ends a siphon’s life. Never put a pressurised siphon in a dishwasher, and release remaining gas before opening it.

Cylinders do not fit a siphon directly — that needs a regulator. This dispenser takes 8 g cartridges.