Crème fraîche (pronounced "krem fresh") is a version of sour cream with a higher fat content, which makes it good for cooking because it is less prone to curdling when you simmer it. While it looks similar to sour cream, crème fraîche is thicker, richer, and tastes less tangy than sour cream. A common dairy staple throughout Europe, crème fraîche is less common in the United States.
Crème fraîche can be spooned over fresh fruits or cooked vegetables and is often used as a garnish with soups. Additionally, it can be used anywhere you might use sour cream, like over a baked potato for instance.
You can purchase crème fraîche in specialty food stores or even some supermarkets. It is often found in the dairy aisle or mixed in with specialtycheeses. Crème fraîche is usually more expensive than sour cream and it can be easy to make your own at home with just a few simple ingredients.
You will need heavy cream and a little buttermilk. This needs to be real cultured buttermilk, not the kind of buttermilk that you can make by adding lemon juice to regular milk. The friendly microbes in real buttermilk are a critical component, and these are missing from milk.
To makea simple crème fraîche at home, follow these steps:
In a saucepan, mix 1 tablespoon of buttermilk into 1 cup heavy cream.
Gently heat the mixture until it is slightly warm, and then transfer the warmed mixture into a glass bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean dishcloth and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
Stir and refrigerate until chilled. Now your crème fraîche is ready to eat.
Why Doesn'tCrème Fraîche Curdle?
Crème fraîche can be used for enriching soups and sauces without it curdling, whereas ordinary sour cream can't be used (because it would curdle). Cream is made from an emulsion of fat and water, mixed with a small amount of milk proteins. Curdling happens when those proteins coagulate and separate from the water. In crème fraîche, there is a higheramountof fat and a smaller amount of proteins, which makes it less likely to curdle.
StoringCrème Fraîche
Crème fraîche should be stored in the refrigeratorand used up to the use by date on the container. Once it is opened, use the crème fraîche within three days. Homemade crème fraîche should be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator and used within the same time frame as store-bought, about two weeks. Crème fraîche should not be frozen.
When to UseCrème Fraîche
If a recipe calls forcrème fraîche and you do not have it, ordinary sour cream or Mexican crema (crema Mexicana) areadequate substitutes for most recipes.
These substitutes work best if you are serving the crème fraîche cool, as either a dip or topping. If you are planning on heating thecrème fraîche substitute, avoid boiling the dish to prevent curdling the dairy.
Feel free to experiment withcrème fraîche and use it in place of yogurt, sour cream, and even mayonnaise. It works well in a potato salad, incorporated into a fish cake, or as a sweet or savory base for a dip. Becausecrème fraîche can be added to heated dishes without fear of curdling, it can help thicken a stew or add some creaminess to a rich sauce.
The flavor of crème fraîche is slightly less tangy than sour cream but the texture tends to be thicker, and the taste overall is richer because it gets about 90% of its calories from fat. Unsurprisingly, crème fraîche is French for "fresh cream." Crème fraîche is phonetically pronounced "krem fresh" in English.
Crème fraiche and sour cream are alike in a lot of ways and they can be substituted on a 1:1 ratio (if your recipe calls for ½ cup crème fraiche, use ½ cup sour cream).
Crème fraîche is essentially the European equivalent of sour cream. It's used widely throughout Europe but less commonly in the United States and Canada. Crème fraîche is a dairy product much like sour cream but it has a higher fat content.
Crème fraîche is the richer of the two, with approximately 11 grams of butterfat at 110 calories per ounce, or per 2 tablespoons. It has a slightly acidic pH of 6.2 to 6.3. Sour cream is lower in calories, with about 5 grams of butterfat and, at 60 calories per ounce, or per 2 tablespoons.
How Do Mascarpone and Crème Fraîche Differ? Mascarpone and crème fraîche, a French cultured cream, share a rich, creamy consistency. However, crème fraîche is more acidic and has a 30-percent fat content (compared to 50 to 85 percent fat content in mascarpone), which results in a lighter, thinner cream.
Tangy full-fat Greek yogurt is a great substitute for crème fraîche in a pinch. Though it isn't as high in fat, it will provide a similar creamy texture and can be subbed at a 1:1 ratio. It works in both sweet and savory recipes.
What is crème fraîche? A classic French ingredient (the literal translation is 'fresh cream') made from dairy cream that's been soured using bacteria in the form of a starter culture, to slightly thicken and acidify it.
Ricotta cheese and creme fraiche both have a tangy taste, but creme fraiche wins out on smoothness and richness. Because of its lumpy and slightly grainy texture, ricotta works better as a substitute for creme fraiche in pasta dishes rather than in a silky and creamy sauce.
In Italian cuisine fresh cream (called kitchen cream, “Panna") is commonly used for food preparations. We don't have an equivalent of creme fraiche or sour cream.
What Does Creme Fraiche Taste Like? Creme fresh tastes like a fresher, richer, tangier version of sour cream. Richer because it has more butter fat, tangier because of a different set of bacteria and fresher because it's typically made in smaller batches.
Rich in calcium and probiotics, crème fraîche can help to promote gut health, but its high-fat content might not align with everyone's dietary goals. The best way to make informed choices when incorporating crème fraîche into your meals is by understanding what your body wants and needs.
Yogurt, on the other hand, is made in a similar way to sour cream, only it is made by fermenting milk instead of cream. Greek yogurt, that thicker product which is more similar in texture to sour cream and creme fraiche is made the same way as regular yogurt, only the whey is removed to thicken it even further.
Sour cream (which has less fat) is the best and easiest substitute, but it's not as rich or tangy as crème fraîche. Full-fat plain Greek yogurt is another substitute, but it doesn't have the same smooth texture or mild flavor.
The most obvious difference between the two is the texture. Cream cheese is obviously much, much thicker. Cream cheese has a familiar tang to crème fraîche, but is a bit milder in overall flavor. That said, cream cheese can still come in handy when you realize that you don't have crème fraîche in the fridge.
Crème fraîche is incredibly simple to make at home: You simply combine cream with a small amount of buttermilk and allow it to rest in a covered container at room temperature for about 12 hours. Within the day, the cream will have transformed into a thicker, tangier, and more spoonable version of itself.
If you run out, you can make a sour cream substitute with no cooking and very little effort. All you need is three ingredients (milk, distilled white vinegar, and heavy cream) and 24-48 hours to let it ferment and thicken.
So essentially the major difference as it relates to your cooking is in fat content. Sour cream is about 20 percent fat.Creme fraiche is around 30 percent.Yogurt is only around 10-12 percent fat.
Yogurt is your best substitute for sour cream. Whether you're baking or making a dip or sauce, yogurt is a 1:1 sub. That means if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt. Full-fat Greek or natural yogurts work best, but low-fat or even nonfat can be used, too.
Most fajita recipes will recommend sour cream as an accompaniment, but I use either reduced-fat crème fraiche or natural yogurt. Skip the grated cheese too, to save on calories and fat – there's enough flavour so you don't need it.
Introduction: My name is Duane Harber, I am a modern, clever, handsome, fair, agreeable, inexpensive, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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