Crème Fraîche

Crème fraîche is a thick, cultured cream with a silky, spoonable texture. It tastes rich and gently tangy and resists curdling when heated, making it ideal for finishing sauces, soups, and pan juices; it’s also used as a cool dollop on fruit or desserts and whisked into dressings, typically sold in tubs at full-fat levels.\n\nOriginating in northern France, especially Normandy and Brittany, it became a staple of French and broader European cooking and is now common in restaurant kitchens worldwide. Producers inoculate heavy cream with lactic cultures and ferment under controlled temperatures until thick and mildly acidic.