Homemade Crème Fraîche - Sketchy or Awesome?

A while back, I was making a soup for dinner that called for a dollop of crème fraîche on top.

Crème fraîche. Sounds so exotic and expensive to our North American ears, doesn't it?

Except that it really isn't. It's basically like yogurt but made with sour cream cultures and it's even easier to make because you don't have to heat it.  Honestly, that's all there is to it!  Take some heavy cream. Whisk in a spoonful of sour cream until nice and smooth. Leave it to stand at room temp. (You can cover it with a clean tea towel to keep out dust or whatnot.) Come back same time tomorrow. Done! That bowl of runny-from-the-carton cream will have thickened up and set beautifully.

No, I did not rest it in the sun for 24 hours.
This was the best lighting I could get on the day.

In Europe, this is not an extravagantly expensive thing.  I mean, yeah, in France they take it seriously, but honestly, they do that with most all food - especially foods of French origin.  Even there, though, you certainly won't be shelling out $6- $8 for an itty bitty quarter cup jar of mass produced creamy goodness!

The other thing that might put someone off of trying this at home is that it really doesn't sound that safe.  In this society, we're told to put milk in the fridge the second we get home or - if facing a long commute - stick a thermometer between your milk bags/jugs/cartons to know whether it dropped below the sacred 4C limit for so much as a microsecond lest we poison ourselves! (What's a blog without a bit of artistic hyperbole?)  So I can see the appeal of buying something made with strict quality controls (whether or not you trust the quality of the manufacturers is another discussion altogether.) instead of leaving two "keep refrigerated" items out for a day and then savouring. It's counter-intuitive, even if the science behind it is sound.

But I'm here to say: I've made some. I've made crème fraîche.  I've done it before and I'll do it again.  Also to note: while I'm technically a normal, healthy person, my constitution is not really the strongest and yet, the only effect I've had after eating home made crème fraîche is a happy tummy after a tasty meal.  It's not as scary as it seems!

Ta-da!