Crème fraîche
French thick cream, lightly sour and nutty, which unlike ordinary sour cream does not curdle in hot sauces. It is expensive to buy, but at home it is made from two ingredients: rich cream and a spoon of buttermilk. The cultures in the buttermilk sour and thicken the cream over a day at room temperature. The one condition: the cream must not be UHT, since the very high heat leaves it setting poorly.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Combining 10 min
- Culturing 1200 min
- Chilling 480 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneChoose the right cream
Use pasteurised cream, not UHT, without carrageenan or stabilisers, ideally 30–36% fat. UHT cream has heat-altered proteins and often stabilisers, so it sets weakly and the crème fraîche comes out thin.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Scald a jar
Scald a jar with boiling water and dry it thoroughly. Bacteria will grow here for a day in the warmth — they should be the buttermilk's, not stray ones from a dirty vessel.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Bring the cream to room temperature
If the cream is straight from the fridge, warm it to about 25°C — briefly in a pan, or by leaving it on the counter an hour. Cold cream cultures much more slowly.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
About 25°C — cold cream cultures far more slowly.Stir in the buttermilk
Pour the cream into the jar, add 2 spoons of buttermilk and stir well with a clean spoon. Buttermilk carries lactic cultures that do all the work. More buttermilk barely speeds things up and dilutes the flavour.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Two spoons of buttermilk — the cultures do the rest.Cover loosely
Cover the jar with a cloth or a loosely set lid, not screwed down. The cover keeps out dust and insects, and a loose lid lets out the little gas some cultures produce.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Leave warm for 12–24 hours
Stand the jar somewhere warm, 22–26°C, for 12–24 hours, undisturbed. From 12 hours check it: tilt the jar — the cream should be clearly thick, like yoghurt, and smell pleasantly sour and nutty.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Chill to set
Once thick, close the jar and put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours. Chilled it thickens further, until a spoon stands up in it. The flavour evens out too.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
After chilling a spoon stands up in it.Keep some for the next batch
Crème fraîche keeps up to 2 weeks in the fridge. Save 2 spoons as a starter for the next batch instead of buttermilk. This works for a few batches; when flavour or texture falters, start again with fresh buttermilk. Always use a clean spoon.
Ingredients: 500 ml cream 30–36% · 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk
Before you start
Why it does not curdle
Crème fraîche has about 30 per cent fat and little protein, so in a hot sauce it does not seize into lumps like 18 per cent sour cream. It can be boiled, reduced and stirred straight into boiling soup.
If it will not thicken
If the cream is still thin after 24 hours, it was too cold or the cream was UHT. Move the jar somewhere warmer for another 12 hours. If a pink or green film or an unpleasant smell appears — throw it out.
What to use it for
In sauces for meat and pasta, on tarte flambée, in soups instead of a roux, with fruit and cakes as a sour counterpoint to sweetness. Whipped with sugar it makes a stable, lightly tangy cream.