Homemade Creme Fraiche / Sour Cream page

[tfarny]

So I put 8 oz of fresh whole cream and a spoonful of organic full fat yogurt together, stirred them and left it partially covered for 16 hrs, then stirred again and put in the fridge.
Taste: Great! Not as sour as sour cream, a great mild topping.
Consistency: A bit less solid than sour cream initially, more like a real whipped-cream consistency, but when I put it on my eggs it mostly melted back into cream-like consistency.

Anyone conquered the consistency issue yet? Maybe it just needs more time on the counter. Creme Fraiche is expensive stuff and if I can get this right, I'll have an awesome "universal" food topping.

[tfarny]

Bump - 17 pages on political nonsense (911 mosque) yet nothing on homemade cultured dairy products? Sniff sniff.....

[avocado]

Aw, I agree with you about that, I just don't know the answer. But it sounds like something I want to try ... after you iron out all the wrinkles

[tangentrider]

I've not tried Creme Fraiche, but I did make an awesome strained goat yogurt with buttermilk culture. I just mixed, I think, a cup of buttermilk in a quart of room temp goat milk, let it sit sealed for a day or so on the counter. It sat in the frig for a while (I forgot about it), which increased the sourness. Once I remembered it was there, I strained it through a gold coffee filter. It's turning out to be a great topping and mix-in.

[Adrianag]

I just made my first batch of creme fraiche. It couldn't be easier. I used 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche to 1 cup 40% grassfed cream. I left it on the counter overnight and bingo! Creme fraiche, perfect texture, awesome flavor for $2.69 for a pint, about 1/4 the cost of my starter container. I heated the cream to 100 degrees to give the bacteria a head start.

My favorite use for it so far - toasted thin sliced coconut pecan bread topped ith creme fraiche, capers and salmon. I'm hooked!

[O_O]

I've never had crème fraiche. As for sour cream I use plain Greek yogurt.

Too many funky ingredients in the sour cream around here and the organic variety is priced as if it were gold.

[Saoirse]

about.com says to use a little buttermilk to culture (make sure it's real buttermilk) into 100F pasteurized (not uht) heavy cream. stir it well and leave it in a covered jar in a warm spot for 24 hours. then, let it ripen in the fridge for several hours to continue to thicken.

[Adrianag]

about.com says to use a little buttermilk to culture (make sure it's real buttermilk) into 100F pasteurized (not uht) heavy cream. stir it well and leave it in a covered jar in a warm spot for 24 hours. then, let it ripen in the fridge for several hours to continue to thicken.

That is the recommended method IF you don't have creme fraiche available for your starter.

[Saoirse]

That is the recommended method IF you don't have creme fraiche available for your starter.

mmm...i'm really tempted to try this. today is a really crummy day, so i will have to wait until later in the week to buy the ingredients. i wonder what half&half would taste like if it's cultured. it seems like it would be runnier, but then again homemade yogurt can get fairly thick.

[Adrianag]

mmm...i'm really tempted to try this. today is a really crummy day, so i will have to wait until later in the week to buy the ingredients. i wonder what half&half would taste like if it's cultured. it seems like it would be runnier, but then again homemade yogurt can get fairly thick.

One of the Greek yogurts I bought recently has cream added which makes it extra yummy. I think if you culture half and half at room temp you'll get a runny mess. Culture at 110-115 and you'll get yogurt. For one quart of milk ad 1/2 cup yogurt, 2/3 cup powdered milk and you'll get Greek yogurt. There is a site online Fab Frugal Friday http://www.fabfrugalfood.com/frugal-...s-its-a-cinch/ that sets the filled yogurt containers in an empty, no water, crockpot on Keep warm setting with the lid cracked overnight.

I can make my own Greek yogurt from whole raw milk for $1.75 a quart. It's a no brainer since I just scored a brand new crockpot at an estate sale for $6.00.