Cre`me Fraiche

This little discovery goes to my wife. She came home with a carton of cream and cultured buttermilk. I smelled the buttermilk and was disgusted with the flavor and smell. She was so excited and told me that she was gonna make some homemade sour cream. I responded with a HUGE resounding NO WAY! You aint gonna make me eat anything with that nastyness of buttermilk. She laughed and said, "Well, tough. Your going to try and thats that." She was happily excited and wanted to share the excitement with me. To make a long story very short, in turn, i learned my lesson and it was the most amazing flavored sour cream i have ever ever EVER had!!! PERIOD!



She tricked me, thats what she did. When the creme fraiche was finished, I wanted nothing to do with it. So that night, she made a dish that I thought was really good but I wanted some sour cream, so I asked. She said yes we do. Now, before I finish the story, bare in mind I had purchased some regular sour cream and I was expecting that. Ok, back to story. She grabed the sour cream out of the fridge and I turned around to check something on the computer, at that point in time, she must have smiled and the planets aligned in space, giving her the idea that instead of sour cream, use the homemade nasty stuff. So she put a dullop on my plate without me even knowing that it came from the jar. I tasted it and i was so in love. I replied with a big grin on my face saying "That is the best container of sour cream I think I have ever purchased!!" she laughed and laughed and then informed me what it REALLY was. I was shocked. So with out any further story, lets make some creme fraiche!

You may be asking yourself why creme fraiche is so great. Well, it taste like cream cheese and sour cream. Very flavorful and the most important part, when you put it pan sauces, it will not separate or coagulate like sour cream from the store will. It mixes in perfectly.You can use this to make homemade ranch, salad dressings, sauces, spreads, dips, frosting for cakes and much much more. You can use this for grilling and bbq, just be creative!

Lets get started. Go buy yourself a pint (2 cups) of heavy cream. In the same isle, you should find yourself a small 6oz container of CULTURED BUTTERMILK.

IT MUCT BE CULTURED OR IT WILL NOT WORK!

Now that you have you two containers of awesomeness and your heart is pounding, lets make the stuff.

Take a very clean mason jar and fill it with two cups of romm temp heavy cream. Next place 3 tablespoons of the buttermilk into the cream and stir. We have to make sure it is mixed well so that the cultures are swimmin around the entire jar of cream.

Next, we cover it. We want to make it be able to breathe but not get any little pieces of dirt in it. So take a clean piece of paper towel and place it over the mouth of the jar. Screw the lid onto the jar but not tight. Just enough to keep said paper towel in place.

Now comes the hard part..... waiting. Place the jar in a warm place. Warmth is what the little creatures in your cream love and are happiest in this stage. When they are happy, they create good happy flavors. 75-77*F is a pretty good temp. You can even place them in your oven, off of course, to keep the heat in. Let it sit for 24 hours. When the first day is up, check with a spoon and it should be thick like pudding.

At this stage, it is time to cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. This will allow the mixture to get nice and thick. Let it chill for another 24 hours.

There you go. A nice jar of homemade cultured cream. Trust me, it tastes great!

Enjoy!