Making Sour Cream

Okay, it is once more RANT TIME in Ferdzy-land. Again, it's about dairy products. Again, the big companies that have a killer grip on the production and supply lines around here, have stopped producing an actual dairy product and are now purveyors of complete and utter CRAP.

I've raved before about how hard it is to get actual whipping cream anymore, but thanks to Miller's Dairy at least I can. However, they don't make sour cream (I'm pretty sure) and the stuff at the grocery store is now essentially inedible. I, at least, refuse to eat it anymore. Here's the ingredient list from the last batch I bought, and it seems to be entirely typical: cream, milk, skim milk powder, modified corn starch, guar gum, carrageenan, carob bean gum, sodium citrate, sodium phosphate, bacterial culture.

Just in case you didn't get that the first time:

Cream, milk, skim milk powder, modified corn starch, guar gum, carrageenan, carob bean gum, sodium citrate, sodium phosphate, bacterial culture.

People, that is not sour cream, and it is criminal that this country allows anyone to sell that slimy glop with the label sour cream.

So I got on line to see if one can make sour cream at home, and as it turns out, yes; one can. I saw recipes that said, "mix 2 ingredients and leave on the counter overnight" and I saw recipes that wanted you to heat your cream to a very precise temperature, and hold it there, and cool it, and then mix your 2 ingredients and leave it on the counter overnight.

After some thought I decided to believe the people who say, mix 2 ingredients, etc. If you are not using raw cream - and hardly anyone will be, certainly not me - that heating and cooling process has already been done; it's called pasteurization.

There are 2 main variables in this recipe. The first will be the cream you use. I used whipping cream, as that is what will be easiest for me to get. It does need to be real whipping cream, not some industrial CRAP full of gums and starches, or why are we even here? The lower in fat the cream you use, the thinner the ultimate sour cream, and this will - even with whipping cream - be thinner than purchased sour cream ever was. Next time I might try mixing equal parts 10% cream with the whipping cream, though, for something a little more restrained. (If Miller's makes an 18% cream, I've never seen it).

The second variable is the souring agent. I used commercial buttermilk, which is okay but not exciting, and my finished whipping cream tasted very much like the buttermilk; no big surprise. I've seen vinegar recommended by some people, but useful as I think vinegar is, I'm not convinced it would bring the right flavour profile. Lemon juice is also suggested, and I will try that next time, provided I am using it somewhere that a slight lemon flavour will be an asset. Yogurt is basically thicker buttermilk, but again perhaps with a different flavour and it can definitely be used. You can also look on-line and find sour cream starter cultures for sale, but I can't see myself using sour cream at a frequency and volume that would make that useful to me.

As ever with dairy products, cleanliness may or may not be next to godliness, but it is most definitely next to success. 

1 to 1 1/4 cups; scale as needed 
25 hours 10 minutes - 10 minutes prep time

1 cup pure, high quality cream; 10% on up to 35%
1/4 cup buttermilk OR 2 tablespoons good yogurt OR 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Make your sour cream in a very clean or sterilized canning jar; pick one the right size for the quantity you intend to make. Either sterilize the jar, or run it through the dishwasher at a hot temperature and start the sour cream as soon as the dishwasher is done. I would also only do this if I expect to use my sour cream promptly - otherwise, it's into the canner, cover by an inch, and boil for 10 minutes. Also you may wish to run through: the lid and rim, a funnel, a large spoon, and a spatula.

Put the cream into your very clean jar. Add the starter agent and stir it in. Wipe the rim with a bit of clean wet paper towel. Pop on your very clean lid and rim, although not too tight. Set on the back of the counter and leave it for 24 hours at room temperature, assuming room temperature is not far off 20°C. It won't thicken up until close to the end of the time. At any rate, put it in the fridge after 24 hours. Congratulations! You now have sour cream.




Last year at this time I made One Pot Mashed Parsnips & Pears.

Posted in: Ontario Food