Pages

Monday, May 28, 2012

Homemade Sour Cream

Have you ever read the label of a store-brought sour cream?  It's not just cultured cream, is it?  Well, it should be.  I'm sick of commercial food products being loaded with unnatural preservatives, thickeners and "flavor enhancers"!  Sheesh.  What do I do about it, you may ask... I make my own :)



Above is the label from a sour cream container we go a while back... I now use this container to hold dry snacks for my children.  As you can see, there is (probably GMO) cornstarch, guar gum and carageenan, among other things.  Why, oh why do they need to ruin this usually yummy condiment?

For my homemade version, you will need about a quart organic cream (preferably raw) and 1/4 cup buttermilk.  I bought the least gummed-up buttermilk I could get from the store, although it still had "annatto coloring" as the last ingredient.  I do not own buttermilk culture, so this had to do.

Pour the cream into a glass storage container (a mason jar would work, also) and stir in the buttermilk.  No heating required- just mix it together cold!  Then, let the mixture sit on your kitchen counter for a full 24 hours, covered with a rubber band-secured cloth.



And, voila!  after the culture sours your cream, you are left with a very large batch of goodness!  Although mine was very creamy when the 24 hours was up, it continued to firm up after I put it in the fridge.  It has the same consistency as that cornstarch-ridden store-bought sour cream, and I didn't have to thicken it at all!

Enjoy your sour cream in soups, sauces and as a Tex-Mex condiment.  So glad I don't have to yell at the ingredient labels in the store any more! :)

This post shared on Monday Mania.

No comments:

Post a Comment