Recipe: French Creme Fraiche

Ingredients

• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 3 tbsps of buttermilk

Instructions

Step 1

Heat the Sour Cream
Add 2 cups of heavy cream in a pot, use regular pasteurized rather than ultra pasteurized. Then warm slightly on low heat, warm to the touch, then turn off the heat. Add 3 tbsps of buttermilk, stir that in and the cultures in the buttermilk are going to turn the cream into creme fraiche.

Step 2

Allow the Creme Fraiche to Thicken
This takes some time. Put it in a glass jar with a lid and leave it out at room temperature in a warm spot for 24 hours. Don't worry, the cultures in the buttermilk will protect it. Stir every 6-8 hours. After 24 hours in a warm room it's going to be pretty thick. Not creme fraiche thick yet, but its going to be pretty thick. Give it a good stir and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours and it will continue to thicken and turn into creme fraiche.

Step 3

After 24 hours, unveil that and it is turning to creme fraiche. This can keep 7-10 days in the refrigerator.

Step 4

The advantages of Creme Fraiche
Creme fraiche has a lot of advantages over sour cream. You can whip it. You can not whip sour cream. It turns into this amazingly fluffy, beautiful whipped cream. You can add sugar to serve it with desserts. You can do it savory without sweetening it, just a little pinch of salt and serve it with caviar, baked potato, whatever you used sour cream for.
Another great advantage is that you can cook with creme fraiche and won't separate or curdle like sour cream. So if you are doing beef stroganoff or a cream sauce it incredibly, incredibly delicious in that. So there it is, creme fraiche. So easy to make at home, delicious, interesting to make, incredibly versatile. I really hope you give it a try. Enjoy.