Dairy
Crème Fraîche
Crème fraîche is cultured French-style cream—high fat, mildly tangy, thick enough to dollop, and famously stable in warm sauces compared with low-fat sour cream. Flavour is buttery-lactic rather than sharp. Finish soups, top tacos or berries, bake into savoury tarts. Simmer gently; full-fat crème fraîche rarely splits if not boiled hard with high acid. Make a home version by culturing cream with buttermilk if needed.
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History
French farmhouse crème fraîche became a defined cultured cream of high fat.
Crème fraîche entered US and UK specialty and then supermarket dairy.
Crème fraîche became a chef default for stable creamy finishes.