AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 • COOK’S COUNTRY 31Sour Cream
Just how sour should sour cream be? by Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
PRODUCT TASTINGSOUR CREAM ISN’T just a topping
for baked potatoes. It’s equally at home
when dolloped on nachos, chili, latkes,
and all sorts of soups. It’s an essential
base for dips, creating a creamy texture
that’s the perfect consistency for scoop-
ing. It’s also used in baking: Some of
our cookie, pound cake, and coff ee cake
recipes rely on the pleasant, fl avorful
tang of sour cream.
But which sour cream is best? To
fi nd out, we rounded up four nation-
ally available products and tasted them
plain, in Sour Cream Drop Biscuits, and
in Caramelized Onion Dip.
Our tasters generally preferred the
products they perceived as milder; they
liked milky sweetness with just a hint of
tang. Tart sour creams received lower
marks, especially when tasted plain.
Most of the companies would not
disclose their fermentation processes,
but Kimberlee Burrington, a dairy ex-
pert at the Center for Dairy Research at
the University of Wisconsin–Madison,
explained that the tangier sour creams
were likely fermented longer or used
strains of bacterial cultures known to
contribute a more tangy fl avor. “The
tangier fl avor of a sour cream could be
because the pH is lower (probably from
a longer, but not a warmer, fermenta-
tion period) or diff erent cultures were
used,” Burrington said. “Usually a
cultured product that is tangier is also
lower in pH.” A sour cream with a
lower pH would be more acidic and
therefore more sour. A sour cream with
less fat could also taste more sour, as
fat has a way of “rounding out fl avors,”
Burrington said. However, when we
looked at the nutrition labels, we were
surprised to see that all the samples had
relatively similar amounts of fat, regard-
less of whether they contained cream,
milk, or a combination of the two—so
fat content wasn’t a factor in their fl avor
as far as we could tell.
Fortunately, the ultratart fl avor of
some products was lessened when we
tried them in Sour Cream Drop Biscuits
and Caramelized Onion Dip, where
other ingredients masked the tanginess.
Our tasters deemed all the biscuits and
dips perfectly acceptable: Biscuits were
all “rich” and “delicious,” and every dip
was plenty “creamy” and subtly “tangy.”
All the products in our lineup
contained just dairy (cream and/or
milk), bacterial cultures, and enzymes,
so dairy fl avor was front and center for
our tasters. Our top-rated sour cream
was described as having a “clean dairy
fl avor” and being almost “buttery.”
Tasters thought that two lower-ranking
sour creams, both made with organic
milk, had subtle notes of “barnyard
fl avor” that were a bit distracting when
eaten plain. Burrington explained that
this fl avor could be attributed to several
factors, including what the cows were
fed, the quality of the dairy, and how
long the dairy was stored prior to being
made into sour cream. While some
tasters liked the “cheesy” complex-
ity of these sour creams, we generally
preferred more neutral products when
tasting them plain. As with tangy fl avor,
the proprietary bacterial cultures manu-
facturers use to ferment and thicken the
sour creams—much like they do when
making yogurt—could also have been a
factor in the fl avor.
Our preferred sour cream texture was
thick but still spoonable. To understand
the diff erences in consistency, we fi rst
looked at the type of dairy used to make
each sour cream. Our two favorite
products were made using just cream,
whereas the two lowest-ranked sour
creams were made with a combination
of milk and cream. The sour creams
made with just cream were described
as “thick and luscious,” while the sour
creams made with milk and cream were
“runny” and “watery.”
Burrington explained that the type of
dairy used to make sour cream is only
partially responsible for the product’sthickness. Manufacturers start the pro-
cess by homogenizing the dairy—using
pressure to break down and evenly
distribute dairy’s fat globules—to keep
the fat and liquid in the dairy emulsi-
fi ed. Burrington said that the amount
of pressure used during homogeniza-
tion determines how small or large the
fat globules end up. Higher pressure
results in smaller globules, which
typically create the thicker, fi rmer sour
creams our tasters loved.We can recommend all four of the
sour creams we tasted, especially for
baking or incorporating into a recipe.
However, for spooning onto nachos or
garnishing soup, our favorite is Daisy
Sour Cream. Tasters described it as
“creamy and smooth, with the perfect
consistency for dolloping.”Cultured Dairy in the Kitchen
Cultured dairy is cream and/or milk with friendly live bacteria (cultures) added.
The bacteria convert lactose, or milk sugar, into lactic acid, making these products
thick and tangy.RECOMMENDEDDaisy
Sour Cream
Price: $2.79 for 16 oz
($0.17 per oz)
Comments: The national best
seller off ered “creamy texture”
and “clean dairy fl avor.” It
made “light and fl uff y” dip and
very “buttery” biscuits.Horizon
Organic Cultured Sour Cream
Price: $3.79 for 16 oz
($0.24 per oz)
Comments: This sour cream
was a bit thinner than our
winner. Dip made with it had
a “nice kick of fl avor,” and bis-
cuits were “assertively tangy.”Organic Valley
Sour Cream
Price: $4.19 for 16 oz
($0.26 per oz)
Comments: Tasters were split
on this sour cream’s texture,
which some described as “wa-
tery” and “loose.” A few said it
had an “almost cheesy” fl avor.Breakstone’s
All Natural Sour Cream
Price: $2.99 for 16 oz
($0.19 per oz)
Comments: When eaten plain,
this product was a bit “too
sour” and had a slightly “grainy
texture.” Biscuits made with it
had a “nice buttery tang.”Web subscribers can read the
complete tasting results at
CooksCountry.com/tangy.YOGURT
Yogurt is made by adding bacterial cultures to warm milk and let-
ting it ferment and produce lactic acid. We add whole-milk yogurt
to sauces, soups, and dressings and use whole-milk and low-fat
yogurts to make especially moist cakes.SOUR CREAM
Sour cream is made from cultured light cream (approximately
18 to 20 percent butterfat) and sometimes milk. When we’re stir-
ring it into stews or sauces, we always do so off the heat to keep
the sour cream from separating.CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Crème fraÎche is made from heavy (not light) cream, which
means it contains between 30 and 40 percent fat. It’s rich and
creamy (no kidding!) and has a subtle nutty fl avor. We like a dol-
lop in certain soups and with fruit desserts.Our Favorite