Making crème fraîche at home is an easy and cost-effective alternative to specialty store-bought versions.
The bacterial cultures in buttermilk and yogurt thicken and acidify the cream, while also preventing bad bacteria from taking over.
Adjusting the amount of buttermilk or yogurt and amount of time left at room temperature will determine the consistency of the finished product.
Finally, I found a plus side to the summer heat. It's currently sitting on my windowsill.
For all the hubbub made over crème fraîche—gourmet markets charge an arm and a leg for this creamier, milder cousin to sour cream, and chefs and television cooks mostly treat it as a specialty item, often naming a substitute for folks who can't find or afford it—it's shockingly easy to make at home, and half as expensive. Not to mention it's science-project-style fun.
As its name suggests, crème fraîche has roots in France. Historically, it was fresh cow's cream left out of refrigeration to become sour. The naturally occurring bacteria cultures would not only prevent it from spoiling, but would work to thicken and acidify the cream.
Since today, our dairy is pasteurized (if not ultra-pasteurized),we have to introduce outside lactic culture to make crème fraîche. Lucky for us, two inexpensive dairy-section neighbors have just what we need: buttermilk and yogurt.
How to Make Crème Fraîche
Crème fraîche is incredibly simple to make at home: You simply combine cream with a small amount of buttermilk and allow it to rest in a covered container at room temperature for about 12 hours. Within the day, the cream will have transformed into a thicker, tangier, and more spoonable version of itself.Then just store it in the fridge, where it will continue to mature. The ratio of cream to buttermilk doesn't really matter all that much; add more buttermilk and you'll need less time for the cream to thicken (but it'll be less creamy). Add less, and it takes longer, but tastes better. We found one tablespoon of buttermilk per cup of cream (that's a 1:16 ratio) to strike the best balance.
Even though some recipes recommend kickstarting the process by heating the cream mixture to take off the refrigerator chill, I found that using cold cream actually worked better. It made for a thicker, creamier result. Plus, after 12 to 24 hours at room temperature, the short amount of time you save by preheating the mixture is not that significant anyway over the long run.
Just as every brand of store-bought crème fraîche tastes different,yours will vary slightly depending on the flavor of your milk or yogurt, the butterfat content you can find, and how long you let it become sour.If you like a softer, runnier consistency, check your crème after 12 hours. I've left some batches as long as 36, especially when using yogurt, which I find produces a thinner version.Just keep in mind that the mixture will continue to thicken once you place it in the fridge.
This crème fraîche gets super rich and creamy at right about the 12-hour mark. You can also halt the process early by just refrigerating it to stop the bacterial action. This is useful if you want a thinner Mexican-style crema agria for drizzling over tacos or sopes. For those of you worried about cream spoiling at room temp, that's the idea: It's the good bacteria from the buttermilk multiplying in there that prevents the dangerous bacteria from taking over.
Notes on Shopping
When choosing ingredients,try to find pasteurized* (as opposed to ultra-pasteurized) heavy cream, yogurt and buttermilk.I used a locally produced cream and a full-fat plain yogurt fromRonnybrook. I could only find 1 percent buttermilk in the markets near me (which I was worried would be too diluted), but it worked swimmingly.
*Look out for wording on the packaging! I've read that ultra-pasteurized cream takes longer to sour, but I haven't actually tried it myself.
Your crème will keep for around seven to 10 days, plenty of time for you to dream up some fun ways to use it! Besides spooning some over fresh fruit, pancakes, cobblers or pies, you can use it in savory ways, too.Stir a little into pan sauces, soups or mashed potatoes—it tolerates heat better than milk or cream, and adds a richness and nutty flavor—or mix with lemon and herbs to serve with fish fillets. My favorite use to date: stirring it into scrambled eggs before cooking. Simply out of this world.
There'll be plenty of buttermilk left over, too (which is partly why making your own pays off).
February 2011
Recipe Details
How to Make Crème Fraîche (in One Easy Step!)
Prep5 mins
Active1 min
Resting Time12 hrs
Total12 hrs 5 mins
Serves16 servings
Makes2 cups
Ingredients
1 pint (16 ounces) heavy cream
2tablespoons (1 ounce) cultured buttermilk
Directions
Combine buttermilk and heavy cream in a non-reactive container. Cover and allow to rest at room temperature until thickened to desired texture, about 12 hours. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
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Crème fraîche is incredibly simple to make at home: You simply combine cream with a small amount of buttermilk and allow it to rest in a covered container at room temperature for about 12 hours. Within the day, the cream will have transformed into a thicker, tangier, and more spoonable version of itself.
Sour cream (which has less fat) is the best and easiest substitute, but it's not as rich or tangy as crème fraîche. Full-fat plain Greek yogurt is another substitute, but it doesn't have the same smooth texture or mild flavor.
Crème fraîche is essentially the European equivalent of sour cream. It's used widely throughout Europe but less commonly in the United States and Canada. Crème fraîche is a dairy product much like sour cream but it has a higher fat content. This makes it great for cooking because it's less likely to curdle!
You need the fat in the heavy cream for this recipe to work, and other dairy products just won't do. You don't need to worry about using organic heavy cream, but if you have it definitely use it!
How to Make Crème Fraîche. Combine cream and buttermilk in a glass jar, cover tightly with cheesecloth, and let sit at room temperature until thickened. Stir the mixture, screw on the lid, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. That's it!
You can think of crème fraîche as being somewhere between yogurt and sour cream. It generally has a higher fat content than either, so its flavor is much richer and its texture is much creamier. Good quality crème fraîche is usually less aggressively tangy than sour cream.
If you can't find crème fraîche at your local grocery store, sour cream can be used as a 1:1 substitute, and vice versa. Just keep in mind that sour cream is a bit more sour in flavor and less rich than crème fraîche. "Crème fraîche can substitute in any recipe that calls for sour cream," suggests Druart.
Sour cream may contain thickening agents like gelatin or polysaccharides to create a smooth texture, while creme fraiche's fermentation process naturally produces a thicker texture than sour cream. Plus, sour cream has a tangier taste than creme fraiche, which has a rich and creamy taste.
Cream has a high fat content and won't curdle, so use it as you would creme fraiche in soups and sauces. You can also whip your cream to use as a substitute for creme fraiche. Whipping your own cream allows you to make it whatever thickness and consistency you want, from runny to almost buttery.
It has a less tangy flavor, but cream cheese will add a great thickness to your dishes. You should use it in recipes that add creme fraiche as an incorporated ingredient rather than just a topping.
Another creme fraiche substitute in a pinch? Greek yogurt! However, keep in mind that Greek yogurt is not nearly as rich and creamy, and the flavor is much tangier than creme fraiche. This substitution can work in baking recipes, but it will change the texture because there is less fat.
How Do Mascarpone and Crème Fraîche Differ? Mascarpone and crème fraîche, a French cultured cream, share a rich, creamy consistency. However, crème fraîche is more acidic and has a 30-percent fat content (compared to 50 to 85 percent fat content in mascarpone), which results in a lighter, thinner cream.
There is a product out called Philadelphia Cooking Creme. Some find it to be a great substitute for creme fraiche and it doesn't separate at high temperatures.
Double cream has a higher fat content – around 48-50 per cent, and it's not commonly available here. Crème fraîche, on the other hand, is cream that's had a culture added, making it slightly sour in flavour.It's around 40 per cent fat. If you're trying to cook healthily, however, cream is not an everyday ingredient.
The main difference between Cream and Crème FraÎche is that the former is made from the higher-fat layer that appears on top of the milk, while the latter is a type of Cream that is made after fermenting the Cream. It is done so by using lactobacillus, a kind of bacteria.
The flavor of crème fraîche is slightly less tangy than sour cream but the texture tends to be thicker, and the taste overall is richer because it gets about 90% of its calories from fat. Unsurprisingly, crème fraîche is French for "fresh cream." Crème fraîche is phonetically pronounced "krem fresh" in English.
Sour cream may contain thickening agents like gelatin or polysaccharides to create a smooth texture, while creme fraiche's fermentation process naturally produces a thicker texture than sour cream. Plus, sour cream has a tangier taste than creme fraiche, which has a rich and creamy taste.
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