Homemade Sour Cream

Home to Make Homemade Sour Cream

There is a difference between cultured sour cream and sour(ed) cream and today am making sour(ed) cream since I am using buttermilk instead of active milk cultures.

I found a recipe at "Mother Earth News" and followed it using my homemade buttermilk.

Homemade Sour Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup buttermilk (1/4 tablespoon of vinegar topped off with milk and let set for five minutes)

Mix ingredients in desired container, tighten lid, and shake to mix. Loosen the lid. Let sit on the counter for 24 hours or until thick. Refrigerate once thick. Good for one week.

Once I attempt homemade yogurt using active cultures I will probably try cultured sour cream.

Cost Comparison: $1.68 for 10oz. of homemade sour cream VS. $1.29 for 16 oz. Aldi sour cream

Definitely not a cost saver and there really isn't ingredients that I feel like I would need to be cut out from store bought sour cream, but I will try almost anything once (sometimes twice). We will see tomorrow how this will be, be sure to check back for an update!

Updated 4/25/15: It has been 48+ hours since my sour cream has been sitting out and I am sad to admit ... it didn't work. I feel this was most likely my error before putting the recipe I borrowed out-to-pasture and will try again using either 1/4 cup of sour cream or straight vinegar. I think I will try my hand at homemade yogurt first though, especially since I have my sister home now who has been doing yogurt for a while! She also mention homemade ricotta is very easy ... I need to add that to my list.

Updated 4/27/15: So I'm a little embarrassed to say I forgot all about my sour cream that has been sitting on my stove for the last 4 days! And yes I have used my stove everyday!?!? Not sure how I missed it sitting right under my nose for that long, it must have been because I had written it off as a failure. Surprisingly enough the consistency has thickened quite nicely and the visual texture (I have not dared try tasting it yet!) looks perfect. It does have a smell I'm not sure about and I don't know if I will ever get the courage to try it (*gagging*), but it is currently chilling (and maybe growing something) in my fridge. If anything I am getting a good laugh at the fact I have just might be crazy enough to try this heavy whipping cream that has been sitting not refrigerated for four days! What?!?!? 

Updated 4/28/15: I TRIED IT (it was a very small amount and I wouldn't let anybody else try it)! Wasn't terrible and actually tasted very much like the real deal BUT I cannot get over the smell, I'm not sure how to describe it! I will try making this again tweaking my recipe with the other half of my heavy whipping cream and this batch (sad to say) will be going out the door!

Updated 5/17/2015: This past Wednesday when my sister was over to help make yogurt, we started talking about my sour cream. Although it is somewhat embarrassing to admit, I will inform you I still have it ... the smell is gone! I need to do a little research if there is a fermentation or something that takes place which was the cause of the odd smell. We both tried it (you can curl up your nose in disgust if you want) and were pleasantly surprised. I also tried some on my nachos the next day and have had not signs of food poisoning (hehe) and on a side-note, no children were used in the taste testing of this 'soured' cream. I did try my hand at making some more sour cream in the Yogotherm using store bought sour cream instead of the yogurt and it is currently straining in the fridge to make it thicker. At the first taste it doesn't seem as soured but we will see how it tastes on our potatoes and nachos.