Traditional Russian Sour Cream (Super Easy and Cheap Recipe)

This is possibly the shortest and certainly one of the easiest recipes out there. This is due to it being very traditional and based on wild fermentation, meaning your involvement in the process is almost zero and all the work is done by the amazing creatures that are everywhere in the air - wonderful bacteria.

I now there are recipes that call for culture to be added to get the souring process started, but I tend to keep my cooking simple, cheap and follow the tradition where possible. The method I describe below is based on Russian tradition that was and still is used in villages to make sour cream.

Ingredients:

organic raw grass-fed cream, the thicker the better
The amount really depends on your needs and here in London on your finances.

Equipment:

glass jar if your cream comes in plastic container

Leave the glass jar with the cream on the kitchen counter for 1 - 3 days covered with the lid but not tight, just place the lid on the jar and do not screw it closed. The amount of days solely depends on the temperature in your kitchen. During summer it will be 1-2 days, during winter around 3. Really what should be your guide is your taste buds. The taste of the finished product should be sour but not overpoweringly so, and just a tad sweet.

That is it, there you have your sour cream.
If you ask me where to use this wonderful product, well I would say almost anywhere: in borstch (traditional Russian and Ukrainian soup), on sautéed cabbage with mince (lazy Russian Golubtsy or Cabbage Rolls), in all the cream soups, in vegetable soups, on Russian Golubtsy (Cabbage Rolls), with Russian Pelmeni, on sautéed vegetables, on stuffed sweet peppers, on freshly boiled new potatoes with dill, mixed up with cream cheese and some honey or other sweetener of your choice (as a dessert), it can be just eaten on its own out of the jar, or with some honey if you like it sweet.

Yes, you are right again, I am Russian and I tend to use sour cream with almost everything :). Love the stuff!

Hey, happy cream souring to you and please do get back here and share your experience or just comment your thoughts.