Sour Cream

Heavy or Light

Preparation info
  • Makes

    1 cup

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Better Than Store-Bought: Authoritative recipes that most people never knew they could make at home

By Helen Witty and Elizabeth Schneider

Published 1979

  • About

When made with heavy cream, this is thick, low in acidity, and creamy in both flavor and color, not bone-white like commercial sour cream. Made with light cream, it is smooth and custardlike, with a silky, light consistency.

It can be added to hot sauces as an enrichment with little danger of curdling because it is richer than “store-bought” and also because, unlike the commercial product, it contains neither rennet nor skim milk.

You can use homemade sour cream as a starter