Updat on my homemade crème fraiche...

D

dawnnys

Well-known member
or rather crème "not-so" fraiche. I did something wrong, somewhere, and it tastes awful.

I didn't have cream, so I used sour cream, and I didn't have buttermilk, so I used yogurt - both of which were acceptable substitutions in the directions that I found.

I mixed about 2 Tbs into a pint of sour cream, and let it sit on top of my refrigerator (a little warmth there) for about 20 hours. I refrigerated it, and tried it yesterday a.m. Uggggh! It tasted like bitter, soured milk! And I think I accidentally grabbed this, thinking it was the Greek yogurt, so apparently the Greek yogurt isn't so bad after all ;o). But it must have been the homemade crème not-so fraiche.

What happened?

 
The sour cream you used was already fermented, now it's over-fermented.

This is one case where there's no substitute for fresh cream! The yogurt or buttermilk would have made it slightly sour, but not as sour as sour cream.

BTW, mixing half sour cream and half whipping cream will give a reasonable last-minute facsimile of creme fraiche.

 
Do you mean adding yogurt to cream, instead of sour cream?

You lost me on your second sentence: The yogurt or buttermilk would have made it slightly sour, but not as sour as sour cream.

Side note: the creme fraiche I had in the past had the same consistency as sour cream, just had a nuttier taste. Maybe it's actually supposed to be more liquid?

Thanks though. I thought I saw somewhere where I could use the sour cream to make creme fraiche, but maybe this wasn't a good suggestion.

 
You can have all of my California sunshine; can I have some clouds please?

I'm in Northern California, and there is a heat advisory in effect today. Considering that it has been nearly 115 degrees f the past few days, I'm a little apprehensive as to exactly what they are expecting it to hit today.

And I'm in the mountains! Not high desert, but the foothills. Right in the heart of Gold Country.

Now I have a quandary. I woke up craving Japanese food, was planning to go to such a restaurant for dinner, but I doubt that they will have their air conditioning set low enough for an enjoyable meal... could get it to go, I guess... hmmmmm

 
Yes, that's what I meant. The yogurt ferments the fresh cream.

Sour cream is already fermented past the point of creme fraiche. In my experience creme fraiche is not as thick as sour cream, but it does thicken as it ages.

I've had creme fraiche in France made from unpasteurized cream that has a nutty, buttery flavor I've never been able to duplicate.

It's so hot here--and humid-- I'd be delighted to send you our weather! I have company coming tonight and I have things to do but I'm at the computer instead because there's a cieling fan in here. We're spoiled in SoCal, and don't cope with humidity very well.

 
No source of sushi-quality fish nearby...

A fact which I quite bitter about lol. It turns out, though, that my partner is a very unreliable source of news updates. He was joking about the heat advisory. There is an air-quality advisory though, but it's a little cooler today I believe, although still well over 100 degrees.

I need to get some more cucumbers and some pomegranates.

 
Sour cream is not an acceptable sub for "cream" when you make creme fraiche.

Yogurt, if it is a live culture product, may be an acceptable sub buttermilk in order to ferment cream, not sour cream.
In my opinion, if you want to make a specific recipe for a specific product, it is necessary to use the correct ingredients or approximations that are appropriate.
You basically already had "creme fraiche" with the first ingredient--sour cream.

 
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