"SWANK DAIRY" UPDATE

We busted a local dairy for fraud last year. We recently gave them another chance.

Thank you, AI

If you haven't yet treated yourself to reading The Great Crème Fraîche Murder Mystery of 2024, we highly recommend doing so. To summarize, a boutique, oh-so chi-chi dairy in a tony Rochester suburb (we called them "Swank Dairy") sells the buttermilk I've long used to make my own crème fraîche. When said buttermilk suddenly stopped working as needed, I wanted to know why, but my investigative efforts were met with obfuscation and dishonesty... inadvertently, perhaps, directing me toward the ugly truth. So I figured out a pair of work-arounds-- making my own buttermilk, or simply adding the live cultures directly to heavy cream.

Fast-forward a year and a half.

Dear Reader, we at Danny's Table firmly believe that in a civilized society justice must be tempered with mercy, that all but the most heinous offenders eventually deserve their chance at redemption. In that spirit we returned to the scene of the crime and purchased a small container of "Swank Dairy" buttermilk to see if anything has changed. I was assured by the evidently knowledgeable counter person that it not only contained cultures, but LIVE cultures... "People use it to make yogurt," she claimed. So I followed the easy, time-tested recipe, adding a splash of buttermilk to a pint of heavy cream and leaving it loosely covered on my kitchen counter overnight.

The result? SUCCESS! Perfectly good, perfectly thick crème fraîche!

I'm greatly relieved that I am not reporting otherwise.

Please see The Great Crème Fraîche Murder Mystery of 2024 for all the info you'll ever need for making your own crème fraîche and using it to deliciously enhance everything from blueberries to mashed potatoes.