Activating The Culture: Sour Cream

These instructions can be used for these for these cultures:

Classic Sour Cream, Mexican Sour Cream, Mild Sour Cream

A Few Quick Notes Before You Start

  • Our sour creams are heirloom cultures, meaning you can use a portion of your last batch to make the next one.

  • The cultures will not fully dissolve, and you may notice some lingering culture flakes in the next batch or two. This is very normal.

  • Ensure that you refresh your sour cream by preparing a new batch every five to seven days. If you need to take a break, freeze some sour cream in ice cube trays, and when you’re ready, just pop out a couple of cubes. To activate, simply add them to fresh half and half. No need to thaw! Depending on how old your sour cream cubes are, you might need to double the amount of starter.

  • Always keep a backup in the freezer and replace it every couple of months. Regularly rotating your backup will keep your cultures fresh.

  • The first batch of sour cream may be runny or still liquid, which is normal during activation. The texture and flavor will develop over several batches.

  • Sour cream thrives between 68°F and 78°F. If you are fermenting at the lower end of this temperature range, be aware that the fermentation process will take significantly longer. It may require a couple of additional batches to achieve full activation.

  • Each packet contains enough starter to technically activate two batches. If you choose to use only half of the packet, please ensure that you adjust the quantity of half-and-half accordingly.

Activating The Culture

  1. Combine the packet of sour cream starter with 1 cup half & half and wait 2 minutes. Stir again and cover.

  2. Allow the mixture to ferment at room temperature, ideally between 68°F and 78°F, for a period of 12 to 24 hours.

    (Optional) Place in refrigerator for six hours to help further thicken the sour cream.

  3. You can now go on to the next step in the activation process and make your next batch of sour cream.

Activation Batches 2-3

  1. Mix 1 tablespoon of sour cream from batch one with one cup of half-and-half. To reduce waste, you can opt to adjust the recipe for half-cup batches. Simply combine ½ tablespoon of sour cream with ½ cup of half-and-half.

  2. Allow the mixture to ferment at room temperature, ideally between 68°F and 78°F, for a period of 12 to 24 hours.

    (Optional) Place in refrigerator for six hours to help further thicken the sour cream.

  3. Repeat this process to create batch three, using the starter from batch two this time.

    The culture may require one or two additional batches to fully activate, particularly if the environment is somewhat cool. Continue the process and give the bacteria more time to thrive.

How To Make Larger Batches

Once the culture is fully activated and consistently producing good results, only then should you scale up your batches. Please don’t scale up before the culture is fully awake, as doing so could overwhelm the bacteria and cause your sour cream to fail.

For every cup of half and half, incorporate one tablespoon of your previous batch of sour cream. Ensure that the starter is not more than seven days old.