Cultured Sour Cream

Great article – excellent information! I like to get back to basics whenever possible and I can’t wait to try out your recipe! Thank you. I found you on Wildcrafting Wednesday. Vickie recently posted…Gertrude and her snakelets

Thank you for stopping by! I was so intimidated to ferment dairy…and it is so easy! Hope you give it a try!

Thanks for this great recipe and the happy news that it can work with ultra pasteurized cream. Now on to my rant: I hate ultra pasteurization!!!! At the Made In NH expo I asked the rep at the dairy council booth about it and they said it is to protect the consumer. BS!!!! How is it protecting anyone when now milk and cream do no sour or separate to show when its no longer fresh but can sit in the fridge for months with no change. I have experimented. At least sour milk would be a useful product but this zombie milk? Blah. Even in the nearest health food store they only sell ultra-pasteurized milk products and when I question them about it they are also on the party line about safety for the consumer. Rant paused.

I hate ultrapasteurization too! But I was glad to see it worked when I made it as for many people without a Whole Foods or Trader Joes nearby that is the only organic option! I have read the results can be ‘inconsistent’…so maybe I was lucky?

Homogenization is the process that keeps the fat in the cream from separating from the water in the milk. Pasteurization only kills microbes. Both harmful, and beneficial.

This looks great! We are looking into buying a cow share so we can have raw milk, yay! One question though, how much is in that powdered culture starter that you linked to? I guess what I’m asking is about how many uses do you get out of it?

I used 1/2 a packet of the Body Ecology starter for pint of cream which is about 1 tsp. Each packet has 2 tsp. Since you can use existing sour cream to make more sour cream (just add 1/3 cup of sour cream to the cream) about 6 times…you could theoretically get 14 pints of sour cream per packet of starter. When I make 1 quart of sour cream, I use a whole packet.

So…a box of starter could, theoretically, give you 84 pints (42 quarts) of sour cream (there are 6 packets in a box).

I was wondering this, too. So I have another question: How often do you have to make sour cream to keep it going? Because I am sure I could not go through a pint of sour cream every week (that’s how often I had to make yogurt to keep it going). Lisa C recently posted…My New “Diet”

I asked my group of ‘experts’ from my Certified Healing Foods Specialist class and everyone replied with the same answer. You can use ‘existing’ sour cream to make new sour cream as long as it ‘passes the nose test’…well over 1 week old. Give it a try and see! Good luck!!

Thanks! Lisa C recently posted…My New “Diet”

Hello! I found you from Party Wave Wednesday and I was so excited to see this because I just tried culturing cream for the first time this week and it was amazing! I used regular cream, because that’s what I had, and I cultured it with a little fresh homemade yogurt. It was creamy, thick and slightly tangy. What is the difference between creme fraiche and sour cream? What did I make? I guess I’m trying to figure out all of the differences. I used mine over fruit for our family desserts, and then stirred in the rest into some quiches I made. Wow! I’ll be making this again.

So glad you liked cultured cream. It is so easy to make and so delicious. Served over fruit is a great idea! That’s a great question. When I have looked up how to make either, I get the same recipe, essentially. I have read that sour cream is more ‘sour’ than creme fraiche? I am not sure though!

I buy pasteurized Organic heavy whipping cream from Trader Joe’s. It is the only place I have been able to find organic cream that isn’t ultra pasteurized. And it is great!

I can’t be bothered buying a culture starter so I have been making my sour cream by culturing it with kefir. So so easy. Same process, instead of putting the kefir grains in milk, I put them in the cream, let it do it’s job then I strain out the kefir and keep for the next batch. Much more economical.

Great tip!!! Thanks!

I did this, too!! I made my first batch just last weekend and the results were phenomenal!! YUM!

Awesome! It is so yummy, right? Check out my post today on how to turn that sour cream into cultured butter! 😉 http://ohlardy.com/making-cultured-butter-its-so-easy Happy culturing!

thanks Kemmy! you answered my question! I’m excited to try this as I believe everything should be covered in sour cream! we use raw milk at home so now our sour cream will be raw too! hooray.

Have fun!!! Tamara Mannelly recently posted…Real Food Transition: Whole Grains

I’m with Kemmy, I’m not going to buy another culture. I don’t use lots of sour cream so I buy my local pastured organic brand, which is to die for, or a national brand that is just cream and culture.My local pastured organic brand in Iowa is Kalona SuperNatural and it is available in the Chicago area. It’s produced by a mostly Amish farm collective in Southeast Iowa. You can look at their website to find stores that carry the brand.I don’t buy their fluid milk because there is a fluid milk producer that is only 20 miles from me rather than the 120+ that Kalona is, but we travel a great deal for work and Kalona SuperNatural is widely available in the states I travel at a couple large regional grocery chains. That makes it my best fluid milk option on the road.I don’t work for them but I am a big booster of these kinds of businesses and try to share info wherever I can.

That’s great! I do buy Kalona at times, but only find it at one store by me…so if I am at that store, then that is what I get! I like their yogurt too!And, I always use the cultured starter for all of my ferments…veggies, fruits, sour cream, etc. so I have it on hand all the time. I like that it is useful for so many fermenting purposes not just sour cream. But you can make sour cream with numerous cultures, as I mention in the post…real buttermilk, previous sour cream to name 2. That is great that you have your local pastured brand!!!Thank you for stopping by!!

I can see that a cultured starter wouldn’t add another item to your kitchen.I’m using anaerobic fermentation with only salt for veggies and kvass though I add whey and reduce the salt for fruits, a kombucha scoby I’ve had forever and start my yogurt from a previous batch without having problems with the culture weakening.May try the Kalona to start sour cream if I have some extra cream sometime.Thanks for such a useful post!

That’s great! I have not done yogurt yet and am looking forward to trying that soon!

I’m the opposite of you, I actually experimented with cultured dairy first, and I was scared to do vegetable and fruit ferments.It’s so ridiculous they put that extra crap in sour cream. It does absolutely nothing for it. When I buy sour cream, I get the one with no extras, and it actually has the best consistency, go figure.My main reason that I would want to make my own sour cream is the quality of the milk itself. I know the golden cream I get from my raw milk is richer in nutrients. Unpasteurized has its benefits, too.

I think the culture that’s specifically for buttermilk at culturesforhealth.com can be perpetuated indefinitely. I am so excited to try this. I’m just going to have to wait on the powdered starter so it won’t get cooked in the mailbox :/

Good luck!!!

It is actually easier for me to find a brand of sour cream that doesn’t contain additives than it is to find a brand of cream that doesn’t contain carageenen. Be sure to read the cream labels! Right now, the “organic” standard doesn’t prohibit the use of carageenen.

Ok – this was tooooooo easy!! Just put it in the fridge and can’t wait for tacos tomorrow night!

So glad you tried it!

I get raw milk from my farmer… but he doesn’t offer plain cream. Can I do this with the milk itself? It does get pretty creamy at the top, but Im not sure its enough….

Yes, you could use that cream from the top. You won’t get a whole lot but just put what you have in a smaller jar (I am thinking a small jelly jar) and add a bit of culture starter (the powder I link too, buttermilk or existing sour cream)! Good luck!

I have made sour cream by putting kefir grains in whipping cream. Would that qualify as sour cream? It is yummy. Tangy because of the kefir, but I like it. What is in the culture you use for sour cream?

Yes, that would be like sour cream. I link to the actual culture I use in the post. It is my favorite culture and the easiest for me since I also have it on hand for fermenting veggies and fruits!

I add a glug of store bought buttermilk to my quart of fresh raw cream, give it a shake and set it on the heated floor overnight and the next morning I have beautiful creme’ fraiche (sour cream). I then refrigerate and use it for sweet as well as savory dishes that call for cream. Easy peasy.

If I have any left at the end of the week I then make cultured butter from it.

Me too!!

Yum! So easy!!

Can you tell me, does it taste like sour cream from the store. We drink raw milk and I tried making some. It did not have the culture starter in it. My family would not eat it because it tasted much different. Thanks!

I find raw cream can taste a bit different than pasteurized cream. Try making it with pasteurized cream.

I make sour cream/creme fraiche by using: 1 c. Heavy Whipping Cream (all I can find is the ultra pasterized & it does fine) and 1-2 Tbsp. of buttermilk Put it a jar and shake well and let sit in a warm(this is important “warmth”) place for 12-24 hrs. I put mine out in my garage where it is warm (from Texas) and within 12-24 hours it is done, shaking/stirring on occasion. When thickened, stir and put into refrig. I was told that it lasts up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator…I don’t go through this very fast, so this is good. Also was told that this is better than store bought sour cream because it will not curdle like store-bought sour cream will if it gets too hot, such as in soups! I really like it better and I am not a big sour cream fan! You can also use frozen buttermilk (which I do), just defrost it, stir well, and add to whipping cream and shake well. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CremeFraiche.htm

I just started reading about making your own sour cream. I have a source of raw milk (happy me) but my question is, from what I’ve read so far is that a starter culture isn’t necessary if your milk is raw, is this true? Most of the recipes I’ve read is place your jarred/slightly lidded raw cream on the counter and within a day or two you have sour cream.

Yes you can do this also. I generally use a bit of starter to ensure the souring takes place properly, but leaving it out at room temp will also have it sour! Good luck!

I’m still fairly new to the real food lifestyle (I hate to call it a diet!). I purchase raw milk but struggle to find uses for all of it. I typically drink it (mostly) skimmed and use the cream for other things. Am I understanding you correctly that I could use the buttermilk I get from making butter to culture my sour cream? Or does buttermilk need another step before it is cultured?

Yes, you could absolutely use the buttermilk! Good luck!

I have Raw Jersey milk. The butter is a deep yellow full of vitamin D. It is so rich I have a problem with the sour cream being too rich. What do you think?

Also its my cow and she is also grass fed

Forgive me if this was previously in the comments… You can also use milk kefir grains. The cream will get so thick, it’s like ‘creme fraische’. It will be hard to find little grains in that thick wonderfulness, so if you have a couple plump, fat grains, that’s best. You can also whip the cultured cream into BUTTER! It’s incredible!

Awesome idea! Thanks!

Great idea!! But why is the starter so expensive???

There are 6 packets in the box. You can use them to make quarts and quarts and quarts of sour cream. And then you can use the sour cream you made as a starter. They last forever. You will get a lot of use out of it!!

Very good blog post. I definitely love this website. Thanks! food choose recently posted…food choose

Why could you only make it 6 times from the same starter? That sounds completely made up to me, I have been using the same yogurt starter for ages, why should this be any different?

I loved the recipe but do not find the starter here in Brazil and it becames too expensive if I buy online from Amazon, because of the shipping. Is there any other natural way I can make the sour cream? I love it but we do not find sour cream in supermarkets here… Thank you! Verena recently posted…Gluten free Knackerbrod com gergelim e semente de girassol

Hi Verena! Further down in the post I talk about other methods of making sour cream!

Guys You have to churn raw milk to get buttermilk n butter t.n cream too s

I’ve never liked mayo and ever since I was a kid I’ve always substituted mayo for sour cream on my sandwiches .

Yes, I have another use for sour cream. It’s called “eating it by the spoonful”! HahaSo I’ve been using Wallaby brand cultured sour cream and I LOOOVE it (hence the spoonful thing). It is the only brand I can find that is truly cultured and doesn’t have other ingredients. I have a source for local raw cream and would really like to try to make it myself. I have used it to make regular sour cream before using just vinegar, and it was ok. But I really want the cultures. I have yogurt starter. Will that work? It’s not the same strains as used in the Wallaby brand. Do you think that will make a difference? The directions call for 1/8 tsp per two quarts of milk. That is what I have used for 24 hour SCD dairy yogurt. I use more for non dairy. If you don’t think the yogurt culture will work, do you think it’s ok to use the pasteurized Wallaby as a starter? Thanks in advance!

I am not sure about the yogurt starter. If it is raw cream, you really don’t need to add anything. It will just sour on its own!