Is it possible to make homemade crème fraiche using clotted buttermilk?

Question

I started making crème fraiche and when adding the buttermilk, the buttermilk had started to clot. I didn't know this before adding it to the cream. Am I still able to make the crème fraiche with this buttermilk?

Answer 1

Chances are the "clots" are harmless. Give the buttermilk a sniff and a (small) taste. Does it seem OK? If so, the curdling probably just means that the cultures are still healthy and doing their job.

Whisk it in, and stay the course. Your crème fraiche should be fine.

Of course if the buttermilk smells or tastes spoiled, throw it out.

Buttermilk (and to a lesser degree, dairy in general) is kind of unique in the food safety world in that the sniff test is 99.9% accurate. If it smells OK and tastes OK, it almost certainly is OK.

Answer 2

Buttermilk doesn't necessarily lead to crème fraiche when added to cream, there needs to be an active culture which currently exists in the buttermilk for this to be the case.

If you want to make crème fraiche, one of your best bets is to add a plain yogurt you like to the cream. If you leave the cream out with the yogurt mixed in, it will culture and ferment. After about 4 to 10 hours, it should be ready (depending on starting temperature).

The longer you leave it out, the more sour it will become. You can choose according to your preferences. At room temperature it will still be a bit runny, once it cools it will set more.