condiment essentials: homemade sour cream
Sour cream purchased at the grocer, usually is not sour cream at all. Oft times, it is just milk that's been artificially thickened and flavored to taste like sour cream. On top of that, store-bought sour cream usually contains additional ingredients like thickeners, and other nasty chemicals. Suggestion: Make your own. Your body will say, thank you, and your taste buds will do a happy dance. So, you ready… Let’s get into the kitchen.
prep time
cook time
method
No-Cook or Other
yield
Several
Ingredients
- PLAN/PURCHASE
- 1 cup heavy or whipping cream, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk powder
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- OPTIONAL ITEMS
- 1 - 2 pinches salt, kosher variety
How To Make condiment essentials: homemade sour cream
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Step 1PREP/PREPARE
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Step 2Why Room Temperature Ingredients? Since we are using milk powder, it will help dissolve the power into the liquid.
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Step 3The milk powder serves to give the sour cream a deeper, richer flavor, and to assist in the thickening process. An ideal container for this recipe would be a mason jar, or other glass jar with a lid.
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Step 4Leaving a dairy product on the countertop for 24 hours, may seem a bit dodgy; however, remember this is “sour” cream. The lactic acid bacteria in the buttermilk will ferment the cream, causing it to sour and thicken.
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Step 5If, after 24-hours, the sour cream is not thick, you can leave it on the countertop for another 24 hours. However, after that time, if it still has not thickened, then something went wrong, In most cases it will be due to a problem with the buttermilk, and the generation of lactic acid. It is a rare occurrence; however, it does happen occasionally.
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Step 6You can add additional ingredients to you sour cream, to customize its flavor. For example, a bit of lime, or lemon juice, paprika, cayenne pepper, etc. Have fun and experiment. One thing to remember, add any addition items at the end of the thickening process.
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Step 7Cost of Homemade: An eight ounce container of store-bought sour cream costs: $1.69. Eight ounces of heavy cream costs: $0.99 cents 4 ounces of buttermilk costs: $0.20 cents. Total cost of homemade: $1.19 So, not only is homemade cheaper, it taste better, and contains no unwanted chemicals. Sounds like a winner to me :-)
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Step 8Gather your ingredients (mise en place).
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Step 9Add the milk to a jar, or container, and whisk in the milk powder. Then, let stand for 5 minutes. This gives the powder a chance to be fully absorbed into the milk.
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Step 10Whisk in the buttermilk, until fully incorporated.
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Step 11Cover, and let sit on your counter for 24 hours, until thickened.
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Step 12When it is ready, whisk in the salt (if using), and place into your fridge.
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Step 13Chef’s Tip: The salt adds a nice mellow flavor to the sour cream; however, do not add it until the end. If you add the salt at the beginning of the process, it will react with lactic acid, and make the sour cream runny.
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Step 14PLATE/PRESENT
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Step 15Use in any recipe that requires good, tasty sour cream.
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Step 16Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
- Last Step: Don't forget to share! Post a picture of your finished recipe here and on your favorite social network. Don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes!
Discover More
Category:
Other Sauces
Ingredient:
Dairy
Diet:
Gluten-Free
Diet:
Low Sodium
Diet:
Wheat Free
Diet:
Soy Free
Method:
No-Cook or Other
Culture:
American
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