3 STEPS TO REAL SOUR CREAM WITHOUT MILKING THE COW!

Serving real homemade sour cream at your Halloween party  could be the icebreaker that motivates your guest to mingle and have a great time.  When your dinner guest are requesting the brand of sour cream on your table you can wink and say "I made it myself!" Mission accomplished!  Your guest feel loved and are having a fabulous time!

I spent a couple of weeks with my sister in July and we made homemade sour cream! How fun it was!  I had no idea that making sour cream could be so easy.

Making real sour cream is a three step process taking about 15 minutes to prepare.  The most difficult part is the 24 hour wait. If that is easy enough to grab your attention, stick around and see just how easy it is to make.

Step 1: Important Information Before Buying Ingredients or Utensils.

I wanted to add this step before the recipe page because it could save you money. If you would like to speed up the waiting time you can buy a yogurt maker.  My sister would make her sour cream, place it in the yogurt maker, and by noon the next day she could eat the sour cream.  A yogurt maker is approximately $35.00.  I decided not to buy one because I am limited on space.  If you plan ahead you can make your new batch just before the old one is gone.

If you live in a small town it might be difficult to find yogurt starter.  A health food store would be a good place to start looking.  Yogurt starter comes in a package that contains several smaller packages.  It cost about $4.00 so please understand that is for several batches of sour cream.


Sour cream can be made in different ways,  so if your serious about making sour cream a google search could offer more economical ways to accomplish this.  You can find recipes using half and half or buttermilk.  I am not an expert but I do know from experience that it is important not to buy fat free, because to make sour cream you need some fat!  It is better to use regular kinds of half and half, whipping cream, or buttermilk, reading all the fine print on the box.  Ultra pasteurized worked for me but I am not sure what changed in the recipe if anything (by using it.)  I live in a small town and that was all I could find at the time.

My recipe calls for non-re-active utensils.  I used a wooden spoon and a plastic bowl.

Set out the whipping cream and yogurt starter to reach room temperature for best results.

Store the yogurt starter in the refrigerator.

You can freeze sour cream IF you are using it in your cooking.

I added chives to my sour cream!  Oh is it Divine with chives!  I used the real deal! I did not know until recently how much different chives taste than green onion tops!

Step 2: UTENSILS AND INGREDIENTS

Wide mouth plastic thermos with lid.
Small wooden, plastic spoon or fork.
2 Cup measuring cup.
Medium size plastic or glass bowl.
Medium size towel.
Medium size sauce pan.

2 Cups regular heavy whipping cream or half and half.
1 Small packet yogurt starter.

This recipe is just for sour cream, you can add what ever you like after it has set for 24 hours ( for dips if you like. ) 

Step 3: PREPARATION

I had best results by setting out one packet of yogurt starter and 2 cups of heavy whipping cream to reach room temperature.

After it has reached room temperature pour the whipping cream into a sauce pan and heat carefully on top of the stove on low heat to no more than 100 degrees. You do not want to kill the culture. You want it about baby bottle temperature.

Rinse the thermos with hot water and dry it while you are waiting for the whipping cream. It will cool off enough before you add the whipping cream.

Remove the pan from the stove.  Make sure it is not too hot before adding the yogurt starter.

Add yogurt starter and mix well with spoon or fork. Make sure all the small clumps are gone by scraping them against the sides of the pan with the spoon.


Pour the mixture into the thermos and place the lid on the top.

Wrap it up into a towel and place it in a warm dry place for at least 24 hours. Check it after 24 hours to see if it is firm. If it is not firm wait another day and check again.

Step 4: WAIT... 24 HOURS

After 24 hours the sour cream should be firm. If it is not firm you can wait another several hours or a day but if it has not set up by then, throw it away and start over. You can store the sour cream in the refrigerator, in the thermos, or put it in a glass container with a lid. They recommend to refrigerate for 6 hours before eating. Once chilled you can make dip, deserts, and casseroles using this delicious condiment.

Step 5: REAL SOUR CREAM ON CRACKERS

You can make all kinds of great tasting recipes using sour cream as an ingredient.  I loved the texture and flavor of the homemade sour cream much better than store bought brands.  Using chives on baked potato's and adding it to dips enhances the flavor!  Go ahead indulge!