so, the word creme fraiche gets thrown around pretty loosely in the modern culinary world. i suspect that, pretty frequently, people are using the term to describe sour cream that's been thinned out and had some other flavor (see scallion creme fraiche, cilantro creme fraiche, etc.) added to it. real creme fraiche, though, is as different from sour cream as yogurt is. before the days of pasteurization (or in europe), to make creme fraiche we could just leave our cream out in a warm environment and the natural bacteria would produce this thick-yet-liquid, slightly sour wonder of dairy goodness. in this photo, ben is providing an example of how to make creme fraiche in the modern kitchen. if he looks unsure of himself it's because i'm holding (moving) the ladder and taking the photo. we've taken a bucket of fresh local creme, stolen some culture from sour cream, and then hung it from the rafters of the closet where our water heater is. Allow for 24-36 hours in this warm environment and no health department inspections and, voila, we get real creme fraiche! obviously, if you're from the health department and you're reading this, we're totally joking! we'd never do this because it violates any number of rules. this is just a test to see if it could work. really...
