Making your own sour cream is easy. Sour cream is used as a garnish in Tex-Mex dishes as well as an ingredient in baking. It is “soured” cream, which counts as a fermented food for those of you trying to add ferments to your diet. Making your own sour cream allows you to have control over the quality and source of your food. Commercial (store bought) sour creams may have undesired thickeners added to them.
Do not be fooled by the many on-line recipes for homemade sour cream. Many of them use vinegar as the souring ingredient. Vinegar is used because it is acidic which curdles the cream. These recipes are a substitute for sour cream, not actual soured cream. My recipe uses kefir to ferment the cream. Kefir is acidic and it also has live probiotic cultures which work to ferment the cream.
I use the highest quality cream I can find (such as organic whipping cream). I also look for cream from a local dairy. Of course, if you have a source of raw milk nearby, you can use that. However, you will have to wait for the cream to rise to the top as the product is not going to be homogenized. But that is getting too complicated. Just find some organic heavy cream (whipping cream).
Make sure the cream you buy at the store is not ultra pasteurized. It will tell you this on the label. The on-line recipes that I found do not warn you against using ultra-pasteurized cream. Ultra pasteurized cream is not a good idea as your body does not recognize the extreme heat-treated dairy proteins as a safe food (the milk is heated to 280°F and quickly cooled to 39°F). This damages milk proteins which makes it harder for your body to digest. Stores like selling dairy products that are ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurized as the shelf life of the product is longer. But at what expense to your body?
Next, find some kefir. I use the Lifeway organic plain kefir (full fat, not fat free) as it will make a creamier sour cream. This is readily available in many stores. It has live and active probiotics (live bacteria) which will help to ferment your sour cream. See below for a picture of the ingredients I use. The Volleman’s cream is a local Texas dairy. The other good thing about kefir is that you can ferment it at room temperature. Kefir is like that. No fancy equipment required.
My recipe only uses these two ingredients. I start small, with just 1 cup of the cream to which I add about ¼ cup of the kefir. These go into a pint glass jar. Stir well. Put the lid on loosely or cover with a cloth. Put this mixture in a warm place in your kitchen. I use my oven with the light bulb “on” and the door ajar.
It takes time- 24 hours to be exact- for the cream to ferment. This may be longer or shorter depending on the temperature of your house.
After about 12 hours I start to look at the cream and swirl it around in the jar. Does it seem thicker? If not, let it go longer. It may not solidify like the store-bought sour cream. When you think it is complete, put it in the fridge. It will be thicker when it cools down. Here is my recent batch-
What is happening in the jar?
The good bacteria in the kefir are using up the milk sugars (lactose) in the cream and creating lactic acid. That is what gives the sour cream a tangy tart flavor. Did you know that Crème fraîche is one type of sour cream with a high fat content and less sour taste? It is served over fruit and baked goods, as well as being added to soups and sauces. It is delicious as well.
According to Wikipedia sour cream is not fully fermented, and like many dairy products, it must be refrigerated after being created. Put your finished product in the fridge.
Southern Living has a lot of nice recipes that use sour cream. Check them out here. I particularly like the Creamy Cucumber Salad. I will be making it soon!
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Thanks, Jackie! You always share such interesting topics. I will give it a try!
I absolutely love sour cream, and this most informative article does indeed make it seem simple to make. Thanks for sharing your recipe and for the tips about what to do, and what not to do to make sure the product created is of the highest quality, health wise and taste wise. Your recipe is a keeper for sure!