Buttermilk: While buttermilk might have a similar viscosity to half-and-half, it’s actually much leaner, containing around 1% fat compared to the 10.5 to 18% in half-and-half. It's also a cultured ...

It comes down to fat. Although often used in conjunction in recipes (and stocked right next to each other in most grocery stores), half-and-half and heavy cream are not quite the same thing. You might ...