Recipe for Crème Fraìche (traditional sour cream)
Tara Carpenter, NC.
Nutrition Consultant helping people heal with therapeutic nutrition.
Originally published on June 7, 2017.
Cultured cream is a fancy name for probiotic sour cream traditionally called crème fraiche. Very simple to make. All you need is a glass jar, cream, and culture starter* to break down protein in milk called casein) and to convert sugar in milk called lactose into lactic acid.
The end result is an easy-to-digest dairy with one of the best kinds of fat for the brain, especially children or pregnant women. Many lactose or casein intolerant people who can’t normally eat heavy cream or dairy without skin breakouts or stomach upset, etc. find they can tolerate creme fraiche because this is a pre-digested food with little work for the body to do other than assimilate good fats 🙂
Cultured cream contains live and beneficial strains of probiotics to keep the inner ecosystem (living environment in your gut) healthy and balanced.
I could not eat dairy for 10 years. Once I deeply cleansed my body and healed my digestion with Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.) and started culturing dairy as I do in this recipe, I could! Regardless, ease in with a small amount, increasing gradually over time as you watch body for negative signs and symptoms. I recommend enzymes like this as needed.
Crème Fraìche
Ingredients
1 packet culture starter* (or 2 tablespoons buttermilk)
1 pint organic, heavy whipping cream** (preferably raw, pasture-raised)
1 pint-sized glass jar with tight-fitting lid (sterilize properly)
Instruction
- Place room-temperature cream into jar.
- Stir in a packet of starter.
- Sit 12-24 hours at 72-75 degrees Fahrenheit until slightly thick. Important to culture cream at 72-75 degrees. An Incubator Kit can keep temperatures constant or a seed-mat or put jar on top of fridge or near heating vent. Keep temperature constant with a room thermometer. If temperature drops below 69 degrees the cream may become stringy and slimy. If temperature goes above 75 degrees may culture too fast and separate or turn sour.
- Shake well.
- Transfer to refrigerator to firm, keeps several months.
Tips & Tricks
- Sweeten with stevia or BE sweetener for a safe. alternative sweetener, especially if you are healing your gut or on Body Ecology Diet to heal a yeast, bacteria, parasitic, or viral infection.
- My kids love strawberry or almond extract (sugar/alcohol-free) added to this recipe 🙂
- In summer, put a bowl full in freezer, so yummy!
- Add a scoop of fraiche to sour fruit (green apple, pomegranate), soaked seeds, and super spirulina for a nourishing “breakfast bowl”.
- Churn into ice cream or cultured butter.
- Fold into dressing or dips.
- Dollop on soup or baked red-skin potato with chives.
- Add to sauce as a cream thickener (won’t curdle/separate).
- Ideal for anyone on a gut healing program like B.E.D.
- This recipe food combines with everything, even fruit.
*This culture starter is the one I personally use and most recommend because it contains hearty strains of probiotics (i.e., Lb. Plantarum) to put in the body. Most probiotics are destroyed by antibiotics, fluoride, stomach acid, chlorinated water, etc. before reaching the small intestine, yet the probiotics in this starter are shown to be strong and survive intact to keep the digestive tract/gut full of good flora.
**Raw cream is best because the protein in pasteurized cream are denatured (protein’s shape changes when exposed to external stress) in a fraction of a second due to being exposed to high heat of 260 degree F. heat that pasteurization entails. This extreme heat damages sensitive proteins in cream and they can become an allergen source. This is #1 reason why people react to pasteurized dairy. Even if you use starter culture to culture pasteurized cream back to life, the damaged proteins may still cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. However, when you use raw cream not heated above 118 degrees (point when enzymes get destroyed) you have a living food with natural integrity preserved. Source raw cream from local farmer with methods you trust.
May all bellies be happy!
Cultured Butter
References
Gates, D. (2010). The Body Ecology Diet. Bogart, GA: B.E.D. Publications
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links for products I believe in and use on a regular basis. See more here. All content is for general information only, primarily educational in nature, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your primary health-care practitioner that you, the reader, may require for any cause whatsoever, now or in future. Consult your primary practitioner regarding any health problem(s) you have and keep them informed to the opinions, ideas, and advice on this site that you find useful. Full disclaimer here. Please email tara@happybellies.net for any questions or concerns that you have.
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