Groceries in France
Smetana in France: what it's called, where to buy it, what to use instead
There is smetana in France under another name: crème fraîche épaisse, cream soured with a lactic culture. We found it in all eight big chains whose catalogues we checked on 6 October 2026, from Lidl to Monoprix. Real smetana we have confirmed so far in two Russian shops of the South, Nice and Aix-en-Provence.
Is there smetana in France, and what is it called?
There is, under another name. In a French shop, look for the words crème fraîche épaisse on the tub: that’s pasteurised cream soured with a lactic culture, the same process as smetana back home, made to the Russian standard GOST 31452-2012. You won’t see the word “smetana” anywhere in an ordinary chain. And the literal translation of sour cream, crème aigre, shows up mostly on dips for crisps: at Carrefour, for instance, that’s what the Doritos dip is called.
| As printed on the pack | What it is | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Crème fraîche épaisse entière 30% | Cream soured with a lactic culture, so the same kind of product as smetana. The tang is milder and the fat higher: full-fat (entière) starts at 30%. | Borscht, blini and syrniki, vareniki, the cream for a medovik |
| Crème fraîche épaisse légère 15% | The light thick version, usually 15% on the shelf, sometimes 12%. It often gets its body from starch (amidon modifié) and guar, so read the ingredients. | Cucumber salad, a cold sauce; for a cake cream take the 30% |
| Crème d'Isigny AOP | Normandy cream with a protected name, 35% fat and up, anything from ivory to pale yellow. As a smetana stand-in take the thick, cultured kind (maturée), not the runny crème douce. | A spoonful on blini and syrniki, in a sauce |
| Crème liquide, crème fleurette | Runny cream with no culture, UHT included. Neither thick nor tangy. | Sauces and soups, but never instead of smetana |
| Crème semi-épaisse | Semi-thick cream, halfway between runny and thick. This isn’t smetana. | A sauce |
| Crème aigre | The word-for-word translation of sour cream. In a supermarket you’ll mostly see it on dips for crisps, not in the dairy aisle. | Don’t buy it as smetana: it’s a dip |
| Smetana, śmietana, smântână | Smetana from Eastern European brands, sold in Russian and Eastern European shops. Read the label here too: some imported brands are thickened with starch and gums. | Everything you used smetana for back home |
| Schmand | The German word for smetana. That’s how Glavtorg 25% and Rodnaja Derewnja 20%, both 250 g, are labelled in the AKHTAMAR catalogue: search for smetana there and you won’t find them. | Everything you used smetana for back home. Search for the word schmand. |
| Fromage blanc, faisselle | Not cream but a fresh cheese made from milk: a cousin of tvorog, not of smetana. | Vatrushka filling, together with crème fraîche |
The word that matters on the label is épaisse, “thick”. It tells you the cream has been soured with a culture. If the name says liquide or fleurette instead, you’re holding plain cream with no culture in it, and no amount of stirring will turn it into smetana.
Next, check the fat. It’s printed as 30% MG, 30% Mat. Gr. or 30% de matière grasse. Plain crème with no qualifier has to contain at least 30 g of fat per 100 g; légère has less than 30 g but no less than 12, and the exact figure is always on the pack. The words crème fraîche tell you something too: this cream is only pasteurised, never sterilised or UHT-treated, so the pack carries a DLC, the use-by date after which you shouldn’t eat it.
A smetana-style ingredients list is short: crème (lait), ferments lactiques, in other words cream and culture. That’s what you’ll read on Président 30%, on Pâturages 30% from Intermarché, on Carrefour Classic’ 30% and on Isigny from Normandy, for example. The law also allows skimmed milk to be added, and Délisse 30% from E.Leclerc does contain it. The light 15% tubs often list starch and thickeners: amidon modifié in Délisse 15%, amidon modifié plus gomme guar in Auchan Pouce 15%. That kind can taste and behave differently in baking, so for a cake cream go for 30%.
What does smetana look like in France?
A plastic tub in the chilled dairy aisle, usually 20 or 50 cl, with a foil seal under the lid. In large letters it says Crème fraîche épaisse, with the fat next to it: 30% MG or 15% MG. The colour is white with a hint of ivory.
You’ll also come across 10, 33, 40 and 45 cl tubs. Centilitres and grams are almost the same thing here: 50 cl weighs about 493 g, and 45 cl exactly 450 g. So comparing the price with smetana sold by weight in a Russian shop needs no calculator, just count roughly 10 g per cl.
Typical labels on the shelf: “Crème fraîche entière épaisse 30%” from Envia at Lidl, “Crème fraîche épaisse 30 % Mat. Gr.” from Délisse at E.Leclerc, “Crème fraîche épaisse légère 15% MG” from Carrefour Classic’. Crème d’Isigny AOP from Normandy ranges from ivory to pale yellow depending on the season, and the 40 cl size often comes in a glass jar.
In the chains’ online catalogues the section you want is called Crèmes épaisses (Carrefour, Auchan) or Crèmes fraîches (Intermarché). On the Grand Frais website, crème fraîche sits in the cheese department (Fromagerie), under Crèmerie.
What can you use instead of smetana, and when doesn’t the swap work?
Crème fraîche épaisse 30% will stand in for it almost everywhere: in borscht, on blini and syrniki (tvorog pancakes), with pelmeni, in the cream for a medovik (layered honey cake). Runny cream (crème liquide, fleurette, UHT) won’t: it hasn’t been soured, so you get neither the body nor the tang. And if the tang is what you miss, stir a few drops of lemon juice into the crème fraîche and let it stand.
Here’s how that plays out, dish by dish:
- Borscht and shchi. Crème fraîche épaisse 30%, a spoonful straight into the bowl. French borscht recipes do exactly that: on Marmiton the thick crème comes with the borscht on the side, with lemon juice.
- Blini and syrniki. The same 30%, or Crème d’Isigny. The Marmiton syrniki recipe serves them with “smitane (crème acidulée)” and sugar, which is smetana under a French name.
- Vareniki and pelmeni. 30%, in a little bowl of its own. “Servez la crème fraîche à part”, says Marmiton in its pierogi ruskie recipe.
- Medovik and smetana cream. Full-fat only, entière, 30% or more. In the Marmiton medovik recipe the cream is 700 g of crème épaisse entière with sugar, and the cake then spends at least 6 hours in the fridge. Can’t face the fuss? In July 2026 people in our chat recommended picking up a ready-made medovik at La Belle Russie on boulevard Louis Blanc in Montpellier.
- Vatrushka and zapekanka (tvorog bake). Here the pair that works is fromage blanc plus crème fraîche. In a Marmiton vatrushka, 500 g of fromage blanc and 500 g of faisselle get 10 cl of crème fraîche, exactly where smetana would go. You can skip the dough, too: in July 2026 chat members spotted ready-made yeast dough for pirozhki at that same La Belle Russie. Get the tvorog (farmer’s cheese) for it at a Russian shop.
- By the spoonful, with berries or jam. Crème fraîche épaisse 30% or Isigny. Fancy something lighter? Try Grandeur Nature 18% from Biocoop (more on it below), just know that it’s runnier than you’re used to.
- Cucumbers in smetana. Both the 30% and the light 15% work. A French cucumber salad on Marmiton adds a spoonful of olive oil to 3 tablespoons of crème.
- Beef stroganoff, chicken in smetana. Crème fraîche épaisse 30%, and only at the very end. Grand Frais warns about this in so many words: add it in the first minute of cooking and it turns runny.
- Okroshka (cold summer soup). The French recipe on 750g makes it with kefir and no smetana at all. If you’re used to a spoonful of smetana in the bowl, crème fraîche épaisse gives you that thickness.
The swap fails when runny cream or crème semi-épaisse ends up in your basket. Grabbing crème liquide instead of épaisse is a classic newcomer mistake. Also bear in mind that crème fraîche is milder than Russian smetana. The French culture works for 16-20 hours at 12-23 °C and, according to the dairy trade body Syndifrais, raises the acidity only slightly. Hence the French crème aigre recipe on Marmiton: mix crème fraîche épaisse with a few drops of lime juice, then leave it to stand and thicken.
How much does smetana cost in France?
A rough figure for 2026: about €10 a kilo for real smetana, with prices running from €8 to €19. That’s 6 prices from 3 online shops selling Russian food, as listed on the shops’ websites on 17 October 2026, delivery not included. We don’t quote supermarket prices for crème fraîche. Shop prices change, so take it as a ballpark rather than a price list.
Where can you buy smetana in the South of France?
The quickest option is any supermarket: we found crème fraîche épaisse 30% in the catalogues of all eight big chains. As of 6 October 2026 we had confirmed real smetana in Russian shops in two cities, Nice and Aix-en-Provence. Everywhere else, Montpellier, Toulouse and Marseille included, we haven’t been able to confirm it yet, so it’s simpler to ask in the chat who has seen it this week.
Nice. Gastronomie Russe (Gastronom), 4-6 boulevard Gambetta. Opening hours and the city’s other shops are on our page about Russian shops in Nice.
Aix-en-Provence. NOY Market, 1 Boulevard Victor Coq. Aix has no shops page of its own, so look up the hours in the table of the main directory.
Montpellier. We haven’t confirmed smetana in any Russian shop here yet. Épicerie Arménie at 5 rue Anatole France (a community partner, we shop there ourselves) has tvorog and kefir, so the base for syrniki and okroshka is covered; pick up the crème fraîche épaisse at a supermarket on the way. Épicerie Victoria at 6 rue Fontenille opened in summer 2025, and its opening post on 19 July 2025 promised “everything for borscht, pelmeni and herring under a fur coat”. We haven’t confirmed smetana there specifically, though, so ask in the chat before you go. Addresses and hours for all the city’s shops are on the Russian shops in Montpellier page.
Toulouse and Marseille. We haven’t confirmed smetana in the shops of these two cities either. The Toulouse addresses have a page of their own, the Marseille ones are in the directory, and in Marseille Anahit’s delivery can also bail you out (more on that below). By post, smetana comes from AKHTAMAR in Strasbourg, also covered below.
What to buy at an ordinary chain is in the table: on 6 October 2026 we cross-checked eight chains’ online catalogues against the Open Food Facts database. We didn’t walk the aisles of particular shops in the South, so the small supermarket round the corner may have less choice.
| Chain | Own brand | Also in the catalogue |
|---|---|---|
| Carrefour | Carrefour Classic’ 30% and 15%, Carrefour Bio 30% | Président 30% |
| Auchan | Auchan 30% and 15% | Président 30%, Elle & Vire 30% |
| E.Leclerc | Délisse 30% and 15%, Bio Village 30% | Crème d’Isigny AOP 40 cl, Délisse thick sheep’s-milk crème fraîche 30% |
| Intermarché | Pâturages 30% and 15% | Paysan Breton 30% |
| Super U, U Express | U 30% and 15% | Isigny Ste Mère AOP 35% |
| Lidl | Envia 30% and 15% | - |
| Aldi | Milsani 30% and 15% | Yoplait légère 12% |
| Monoprix | Monoprix and Monoprix Bio 30%, Monoprix 15% | Isigny Sainte Mère AOP, Président, Elle & Vire, Bridélice, Le Gall 40% |
At Biocoop, look for Grandeur Nature “Crème fraîche épaisse 18%” in a 20 cl pot. On fat and ingredients (cream and culture, no starch) it comes closest of all to smetana, but the chain itself describes the texture as “fluide et onctueuse”, so it’s runnier. We haven’t checked Biocoop addresses in the South.
Can you order smetana online for delivery in France?
Of the Russian online shops, the one that offers to post smetana across France is AKHTAMAR in Strasbourg, under the German name Schmand, but its website has no rules about keeping it cold. Anahit in Marseille does its own deliveries, within its own zone, and Katucha doesn’t stock smetana at all.
AKHTAMAR (Strasbourg). The catalogue has Glavtorg Schmand 25% and Rodnaja Derewnja Schmand 20%, both 250 g and both in stock on 17 October 2026. Ryazhenka (spelt Ryajenka) sits right next to them. A search for smetana won’t find them; you have to search for schmand. The shop ships across mainland France. Its terms of sale are still an empty template, with nothing on cold packaging, insulation or delivery times, so you order at your own risk. The rate on 6 October, from a test basket, was about €5 up to 2 kg, free from €100; we haven’t rechecked those figures since, because the site has shut its basket to robots.
Anahit (Marseille). The catalogue has a 250 g Crème fraîche 20% from an Eastern European brand (the site spells it Rodniaya Derevnja), and on 6 October it was in stock. The word smetana isn’t in the name, but that’s what it is. The shop does its own deliveries, chilled and frozen goods included. The delivery page names twelve towns with a 10 km radius around each, from Martigues to Nice, but at checkout on 6 October Marseille was the only choice. The rate that day was €10 per order, free from €100; these days it only appears after you fill in the delivery form, so we haven’t rechecked it. Montpellier and Occitanie aren’t on the list.
Katucha (Metz) ships by Colissimo across France, and orders with fresh items go out on a Monday or Tuesday. Only there’s nothing to order: in a catalogue of 265 products, a search on 6 October found no smetana, no crème aigre and no crème fraîche.
La Maison Russe (Saumur) mentions smetana only in the blurb for its fresh-food section, and on 6 October a search for smetana found one borscht. Fresh items go out by express delivery only. The site also offers free collection from its shop in Saumur, but according to the business register the premises under that name have been closed since 2023, so check with the shop first.
Slavmarket (Paris) has a “Сметана · Crèmes” section in its catalogue, but the site shows no prices, orders go only through the pomo.bio marketplace, and the marketplace gives the delivery area as Paris and Île-de-France. Not an option for the South.
Don’t waste time on sites from older round-ups: one has turned into a travel and visa blog, another no longer loads, and another shows €0.00 against almost every product. The online shop Prestige Russe had orders suspended on 6 October, while its home page carries an undated banner saying it delivers all over France.
Our takeaway is simple. We wouldn’t order smetana by post: AKHTAMAR sends it with no cold-chain rules, and in hot weather that matters even more. Buy crème fraîche épaisse at your local supermarket, and real smetana at a Russian shop if there’s one nearby. Which shelf it’s on this week, the chat will tell you.