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Homemade Sour Cream

A simple homemade sour cream made by fermenting cream with buttermilk.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and buttermilk work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 674 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Homemade Sour Cream

Time6 hours to overnight at room temperature

Ingredients

Directions

Culture the cream

  1. Stir cream and buttermilk in a pint jar. Cover and shake.

  2. Let stand at room temperature, uncovered, 6 hours to overnight, then chill well.

Whip and serve

  1. When ready to serve, beat the sour cream to medium-stiff peaks, not stiff.

  2. Serve immediately. The whipped mixture should double in volume.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

200Calories
8 gProtein
13 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream
Provides the fat and body that thicken into a rich, spoonable texture.
Buttermilk
Adds live cultures that sour the cream and thicken it as it stands.

The step that matters

Beating to medium-stiff peaks, not stiff. Cream whipped past stiff peaks keeps overworking its fat globules, which clump together and can turn grainy or separate into butter. Stopping at medium-stiff keeps the texture smooth and spreadable.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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