I can’t remember how I first learned about Mexican “crema” - it’s thick and creamy - a bit like sour cream, but not so sour, and much richer. My interpretation of the Spanish on the Lala crema is that it’s made from acidified pasteurized cow’s milk, stabilizer and salt. The Lala plastic tub claims 25% butterfat, and low carbs (2g per 100g/3.5 oz serving). Crema brings everything to a higher level. It makes me glad that I’m on a low carb diet. At home, I looked for something similar.

Sour cream came to mind, but in our fat-phobic culture, doesn’t have nearly as much fat as crema. Maybe 14% (I’m going by memory now), and “light” versions abound, with half the fat or even no fat. The solution came to me after I started buying whipping cream by the litre. There were times when a little in my morning tea was not keeping up with supply, and I needed to use up a couple of cups worth. The answer is creme fraiche - cream that has been cultured.

When added to heated sauces, it won’t separate like cream does, and mounds nicely when spooned out. Cream keeps much longer when cultured, so this is a good way to use up whipping cream, even if you’re not on a low-carb diet. Like the yogurt it’s made with, it will contain live culture, which some say is a health benefit.

Although you can buy bacterial cultures specifically for creme fraiche, yogurt can also be used as a starter. Look for plain yogurt that is made of milk products and live bacterial culture, and no other ingredients. I generally use Presidents Choice 1% fat, but have also used Astro, Olympic and Nancy’s yogurt as starters. The amount of fat in your starting yogurt isn’t important.

Like making yogurt back when

I used to make yogurt in the 1970s, when that new old food was available only from health food stores. Most commercial versions were filled with thickeners and stabilizers, but Nancy’s imported from Oregon, was pure and naturally thick. It was also expensive - about what it costs now, but in dollars that were worth a lot more! I learned to make yogurt, which in those days, without internet search engines, meant word of mouth and library research.

In 1974, with a boyfriend’s help, I built a plywood cabinet, with a 100 watt bulb for heat, and a modified home thermostat to regulate the temperature. The containers sat on a shelf above the bulb, and it worked perfectly. Later, I used that constant-heat-box for rising bread and also for making natto, fermented soybeans, either loved or reviled by those who encounter it - but that’s another post.

Basic principles

Making cultured milk products is about encouraging the starter culture to flourish and reproduce, and discouraging other organisms. The starter culture (and other stuff) will be killed if it is heated too much, and will reproduce too slowly if it’s too cold. I like to make creme fraiche when I first open the yogurt, to reduce the risk of other bacteria having been introduced. Find a jar with a good lid, such as a 1-pint (500ml) wide mouth Mason. Clean it thoroughly. I wash my jars in the dishwasher on a very hot cycle - so hot, that right after the cycle ends, the jars are too hot to pick up. Air dry them - a less than sterile towel could introduce competing bacteria. Cap them until needed if you aren’t proceeding right away.

Making creme fraiche

I find that somewhere between 1-1/2 to 2 cups (300-450ml) is a good quantity for my uses, but you can adapt this method to your needs - for smaller quantities, don’t reduce the yogurt to less than a couple of spoonfuls. For quantities larger than 3 cups/750ml, use several jars. Heat 1-1/2 cups of whipping cream in a heavy pot, until a few little bubbles show around the edges, but do NOT boil. Pour into the jar, and let cool to 110-115 deg. F, stirring occasionally. If the cream is too hot, it will kill the culture. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test the cream on the inside of your wrist - how we used to test baby bottles - it should feel neither hot nor cold. Discard any skin that forms.

Stir a couple of heaping tablespoons of the yogurt into the cream, put on the lid and leave in a warm place (but not too hot). A yogurt maker with a thermostat is ideal, but I have improvised with a pan on my hot water radiator, a towel under the pan, and wrapped over the jar. A warm oven with a pilot light could work, or a sunny windowsill, or a heating pad with a thermostat or setting the jar in 110 deg. F. water in a cooler, keeping the water below the lid level.

Hold at 110 deg. F

Let stand for about 5 hours, and tip slightly. If the cream is still liquid, let stand longer. Generally, the cooler the temperature the longer it will take. However, if the temperature goes over 130 deg. F, the culture will die and will not ferment the cream. I usually leave it overnight.

Once thickened, refrigerate immediately. Use only a very clean spoon to scoop out what you need, and keep the creme fraiche tightly covered and refrigerated. I find that it keeps 2 to 3 weeks.

Using your creme fraiche
With a tablespoon of berries, in cream of mushroom soup or sauces. In beef stroganoff, or creamy chicken stew. On top of a bowl of chile. As a base for dips.

An easy dessert: mix 1/3 cup with a little sweetener (Da Vinci Sugar-free Amaretto, or French Vanilla, for example), sprinkle on some toasted slivered almonds.

Here in San Migeuel de Allende, Mexico, with a 900ml (nearly a US quart) container of crema in the fridge, I made a hot-sweet-savory dessert (pictured), mixing a little roasted chile salsa with the crema, and a little sugar-free hazelnut syrup. Yum.