crème fraiche

Crème fraiche is a staple of French cuisine. It is,  however, a bit of a luxury item here – usually found only in specialty shops and gourmet grocery stores. Luckily, it is ridiculously easy to make at home. The way crème fraiche is made in the US differs from how it is made in France. In France, the cream used to make crème fraiche is unpasteurized and the natural bacterial cultures in the cream are allowed to develop on their own. In the US, most dairy products are pasteurized and making crème fraiche requires adding buttermilk (or yogurt, but I haven’t tried that method and can’t guarantee the results). Crème fraiche is similar to sour cream, but less acidic and with a slightly nuttier taste.

Uses for crème fraiche: add a dollop to pureed soups (like Cream of Spinach Soup), as a filling for crepes, with fresh fruit (or Banana Halva), over a baked potato, with caviar or salmon, or use as a substitute for just about any recipe that calls for heavy cream or sour cream. Crème fraiche can withstand higher temperatures than sour cream before curdling, making it ideal for sauces.

Crème fraiche
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1 cup heavy whipping cream (pasteurized, see note below)
2 tablespoons buttermilk

Mix together whipping cream and buttermilk in a jar. Cover and let stand at room temperature (around 70 Fahreinheit or 21 Celsius) for 12-24 hours. That’s it. Let the bacterial cultures do their thang. Once the mixture has thickened, refrigerate the crème fraiche 24 hours before serving. Keep refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Note: If you use ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream, the crème fraiche may take longer (36 to 48 hours) to thicken. I did a little bit of poking around the web, some people complained that the crème fraiche they made with ultra-pasteurized cream not only took longer to thicken, but tasted too sour. Others seemed to not notice a difference between pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized. I suggest using pasteurized whipping cream if you can find it, otherwise experiment with ultra-pasteurized.

Also, the fat content of the buttermilk doesn’t matter much (though if I’m wrong, please tell me!). I used low fat buttermilk because that’s all that I could find. I normally only purchase full fat dairy products.

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Related posts:

1. buttermilk ice cream with strawberry sauce
2. green salad with apples and pecans with buttermilk honey dressing
3. strawberry gelato
4. double chocolate ice cream
5. pork loin with cumin and paprika

Tags: french