A kitchen staple that is so easy, everyone should make their own.
Creme fraiche (pronounced: crem fresh) is one of the few prep items we made at the restaurant year-round and I consider it a basic kitchen staple. We used it primarily to garnish soups and make cream sauces but the uses for this ingredient are extensive. Most grocery stores carry creme fraiche in the deli section but an 8 oz container will set you back about $8 and last you only 1-2 meals. This is one of those items that is so easy and inexpensive to make your own, there is really no reason to buy it.
What is creme fraiche?
Creme fraiche is a rich, slightly acidic, cultured cream. Crema is the Latin American name for it. Its consistency is between cream and sour cream. The longer it sits the thicker and more sour it gets.
How is creme fraiche used?
Creme fraiche can generally be used in place of cream, sour cream and yoghurt in many recipes. It is less acidic and more buttery than sour cream and yoghurt and it handles cooking better than both of these ingredients due to its higher fat content. It will thin when heated but will not curdle.
There are so many uses for creme friache:
- Garnish pureed soups
- Make hot cream sauces like mushroom cream sauce, or creamy tomato sauce
- Make cold cream sauces like horseradish herb creme fraiche or cilantro-lime creme fraiche.
- Add to salad dressings or use as a salad dressing on its own.
- Drizzle or dollop over tacos, enchiladas, fish, chicken or cooked vegetables
- Sweeten and use like you would whip cream.
- Use in cooking and baking in place of cream, sour cream or yoghurt.
I hope you enjoy making and using this product. I’d love to know how you use your creme fraiche so please leave comments or tag your creations #homecooksguide on social media.
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Home-made Creme Fraiche
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 12-24 hours
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: cultured
- Method: culture
- Cuisine: French
Description
Creme fraiche is so versatile, easy and inexpensive to make at home there is no reason not to make this part of your regular kitchen routine.
Ingredients
2 cups cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions
In a clean container, stir together the cream and buttermilk.
Leave uncovered at room temperature overnight (12-24 hours). The warmer it is the thicker and richer the creme fraiche will be in the morning.
Stir well. There may be a thicker layer on top, stir that in. Cover and refrigerate.
That’s all there is to it!
In my local grocery store buttermilk is only available in quarts. Can I substitute milk with vinegar added or can I use re-constituted dry buttermilk in this recipe?? I’m sure fresh is always better but for small amounts it would be nice to have another option.
Hi Leslie,
That’s a great question. Those substitutions would work perfectly fine in most baking recipes but in this case I would not recommend substituting for dry buttermilk or vinegar and milk because neither of those substitutions would provide the live cultures needed to turn the cream into creme fraiche. You could however substitute for yoghurt with live active cultures. I haven’t made it this way but I have found recipes that use yoghurt for making creme fraiche. Try about half the amount of yoghurt as the recipe calls for in buttermilk. If you experiment with this I’d love to know how it turns out.