I was really nervous about trying to make my own sour cream from my kefir, and even more nervous to taste it! But, amazingly enough, I did! And my husband did so as well. We had some fajitas for lunch a few weeks back, topped with homemade sour cream, and salsa. It was definitely not the texture of normal sour cream (although with more experimenting it has received a better consistency), but it had a pleasant taste, and worked quite well. The key is to not let it sit too long, otherwise it gets a little too sour!
I was inspired with this idea from Capturing Today. She explains how to make kefir and about using kefir to make sour cream and cream cheese here. I thought…use kefir for sour cream! Perfect!
Here’s how to do it:
1. Culture your kefir grains as usual. (Read more about this process here). I use raw milk, and kefir grains in a quart size glass jar. Covered and store in a cupboard for 12-36 hours.
2. Once it is complete, thickened nicely, line a strainer with cheesecloth or cloth napkin, over a large pot. Wet the cheesecloth slightly.
3. Remove the kefir grains and dump the contents into the strainer. Depending on the amount of liquid, allow it to sit for 8-12 hours. I found 7-8 hours to be sufficient to make a sour cream consistency. Start at beginning of the day, and taste it throughout the day. Overnight is too long from my experience. Leaving it longer allows it to dry even more and it takes on more of a cream cheese consistency, which also can be used as cream cheese, although we didn’t care for it that well. The resulting liquids that drain off are kefir whey, which is wonderful for soaking your grains, legumes, etc.
Hooray! Sour cream made from raw milk, and cultured with kefir grains! Can’t get much better than that! One less thing to buy in packaged form!
i make homemade sour cream by putting my kefir grain in 1-2 cups of cream and letting it sit for 48 hours. it makes wonderful smooth and creamy sour cream!
I have to add that to my list, great post! You might want to try this Kefir Soup too. I’m excited to hear what you think. : )
Hi Lindsay,
I just tried making this today. I used a coffee filter and funnel (suggested by the person I got my kefir grains from) and strained it that way. However, the kefir just ran right through and there were virtually no solids (curds) left in the filter. I’m wondering if you know why this may have happened. I have only been making kefir for a couple weeks and I’m wondering if maybe the kefir grains are just not up to speed yet. I have used both raw milk and regular whole milk and both come out the same consistency after 24 hours…not very thick. Any suggestions?
You will need to let it sit longer at room temperature. If it is colder in your house, as it is in mine, it can take any where from 36-48 hours to solidify. And yes, it does take some time to get your kefir grains activated, especially if they have been sitting in the fridge between batches. My kefir takes longer to solidify because I only make a quart per week and thus the grains are sitting in the fridge in a bit of milk in between batches. Hope that helps!
This absolutely helps, Lindsay. I did have more luck yesterday when trying it. And YES..our house is cold. I let it sit for about 36 hours and the kefir was much thicker than it had been. I haven’t tried straining it yet but, I’m hopeful. I also tried to make the creme fraiche using creme and buttermilk and it’s taking forever…I’m assuming for the same reason – a cold kitchen! Thanks again for your help. It is much appreciated.
I started making kefir with a very small grain. Now I have a good cup or so. I put all my grains in with my raw milk and let it ferment for about 24 hours in a warm room. (We keep one room warm in the winter.) It is in a ball jar padded with a cloth in a tub around 70 degrees. At first, my kefir was not very good–for about the first month. Once I got more grains going, it is making really tangy effervescent thick kefir now, which I can’t stop drinking. I have several shot glasses of it in the a.m. You may have to stick with it for a while to build up your grains. Now I am going to try to make sour cream by adding some of this thick kefir to the cream without the grains and see if that works, because it is hard to fetch the grains back out. Normally I do that by putting the liquid in a plastic yellow strainer and swish it back and forth with a rubber spatula. I don’t wash the grains and leave a little of the ferment on them. Then they go into another ball jar with 70 degree milk for the next batch.
My favorite sour cream is made from fresh raw cream (skimmed off our milk from the local farm). Save 2 cups for sour cream. Shake the rest of the cream for butter. Save the buttermilk and let it sit at room temp over night. The next day put your 2 cups cream in a quart mason jar or a jar that will hold at least 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to the cream. Stir. Let sit a room temp for 24 hours. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. This makes a very mild creamy sour cream!