I still haven't ordered the rest of my cheese making supplies yet, so I have to stick to things that don't need rennet (or CaCl₂ or molds or any of that fancy stuff). If nothing else, holding off on placing the order forces me to stick to the basics and do the simpler stuff before moving on to the more intricate recipes.

I know crème fraîche isn't actually a type of cheese, but it is a cultured dairy product, so it feels like part of the same family in my mind. And it was fun to get to play around with cultures again after the more-or-less instant direct acidified cheeses. And it looks like it came out beautifully! I haven't actually tasted it yet, but if appearance is anything to go by breakfast is going to be a real treat tomorrow. I can't wait!

Update: So I've now had a chance to try the crème fraîche and it is just as delicious as it looks! (See above.) It is rich and smooth and creamy with just a tiny hint of tartness. If I'm completely honest, I think it could actually stand to be a bit tangier, but it's perfectly tasty the way it is. I might try either letting stand out at room temp slightly longer next time or using a different culture. I'll be sure to write up another post detailing the results if I do!

Crème Fraîche

Ingredients

• 1L heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 tsp. Biena mesophilic aromatic type B culture¹

Directions

1. Thoroughly wash and/or sterilize all tools and containers. (I used a pressure cooker to achieve this.)
2. Gently warm cream to 30°C.²
3. Sprinkle the culture onto the surface of the cream and allow to stand for 2 minutes.
4. Thoroughly stir culture into cream, partially cover, and allow to stand at room temperature overnight. (Mine was out for somewhere around 12 or 13 hours.)
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
6. Crème fraiche may be used at this point or kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Feel free to use whatever mesophilic culture you prefer when making your own crème fraîche. You can even use a few Tbsp. of buttermilk in a pinch! Each one will produce its own characteristic flavour. I chose Aroma B for this because, based on some quick Googling around, it seemed like it was probably closest to the canonical crème fraîche culture.

Some Tips on Using Crème Fraîche

Crème fraîche is actually pretty awesome. It is a cultured dairy product similar to sour cream and can be used pretty much anywhere you'd use sour cream. People don't usually tend to substitute it because sour cream tends to be cheaper and more readily available whereas crème fraîche is more of a "specialty" ingredient so it tends to get reserved for the cases where only crème fraîche will do. That said, if you've made or bought a bunch and have some left over, it makes a fine stand-in for sour cream.

Better yet, crème fraîche is much more heat tolerant than sour cream. If you try to cook with sour cream, unless you stir it in right at the end (as with stroganoff), it will tend to break and curdle. Crème fraîche has a much higher fat content, so it won't curdle nearly so easily. If you want a cultured cream that will stand up to prolonged cooking and/or reheating then crème fraîche is where it's at!

It also whips! It does start out as heavy (aka "whipping") cream after all. Culturing it breaks down the lactose, making it less sweet and more acidic/"tangy", but it doesn't break down any of that glorious fat (which is why it stands up to heat so well). That high fat content is also what makes it whip-able. So you can have delicious, tangy, fluffy, whipped crème fraîche! How awesome is that?

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¹ Aroma B is a blend of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. diacetylactis, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides.<sup>Back

2</sup> I chose to pour my cream into a large Mason jar and heat it up in a warm water bath. This does make it more difficult to stir, but it meant that I could do everything directly in the jar and didn't have to worry about transferring it to the jar later. And the warm water bath ensures gentle, even heat.^Back