Sour cream

Sour cream is a dairy product rich in fats obtained by fermenting a regular cream by certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, introduced either deliberately or naturally, sours and thickens the cream. Though only mildly sour in taste, the name stems from the production of lactic acid by bacterial fermentation, sometimes referred to as "souring".

Sour cream

Sour cream, made out of heavy cream, contains from 16 to 21 percent fat, and gets its characteristic tang from the lactic acid created by the bacteria. Sour cream often contains additional ingredients such as gelatin, rennin, and vegetable enzymes.

Light sour cream contains about 40 percent less fat than regular sour cream because it is made from a mixture of milk and cream rather than just cream.

Non-fat sour cream is thickened with stabilizers and thickeners such as corn starch, gelatin, carrageenan, and guar gum.

Storage

Sour cream cannot usually be refrigerated in its container for more than a month after the date stamped on the bottom of the container. If any mold forms on the cream's surface, the entire container should be discarded immediately.

Uses

Used primarily in the cuisines of Europe and North America, sour cream is often used as a condiment. It is a traditional topping for baked potatoes, added cold along with chopped fresh chives. It is used as the base for some creamy salad dressings and can also be used in baking, added to the mix for cakes, cookies, American-style biscuits and scones.

Sour cream can also provide the base for various forms of dip used for dipping potato chips or crackers, such as "onion dip." "Sour cream and onion" is a popular potato chip flavoring evoking the taste of having dipped the chip into such a dip.

In Ukrainian and Russian cuisine, sour cream is often added to borscht and other soups, and is used as a condiment for perogies. In Tex-Mex cuisine, it is often used as a condiment to cool the hot pepper components of tacos, nachos, burritos, taquitos or guacamole. Hungarian cooks use it regularly as an ingredient in sauces and in recipes such as ham-filled crepes.

See also

• Cream, a more general term.
• Crème fraîche, lightly soured cream.
• Smetana (cream), a heavier and sweeter sour cream.
• Yoghurt, produced with other kinds of Lactobacillus bacteria.
• Fermented milk products for a comparison of sour cream with other fermented milk products.