Darla I have never actually had dairy sour cream, as far as I can remember. However, I keep coming across recipes that require it (for example, this cheesecake recipe that I made for our New Year’s Eve celebration).
Vegan sour cream is (probably unsurprisingly?) not something that’s available at your average supermarket in Italy! (Or even in fancy ones.) I’ve tried a number of vegan recipes over the years, and they generally include cashews. I’m especially sensitive to cashew flavor — I like it, but it tastes like cashew, not cream, no matter how much I soak the cashews.
I’ve also tried several variations on quick sour cream, thickened with an acid, and it’s better, but not perfect.
I haven’t had very much luck with rejuvelac or probiotic capsule recipes, either. Eventually I’ll get around to another Cashewbert order, but in the mean time, I need to make cheesecake!
This recipe is cultured with easy-to-find ingredients, and comes out very creamy and tangy and delicious!
This probably works with almond milk, but I haven’t tried it (I have the same issue with almonds as cashews – delicious but tastes like almonds, not cream).
It’s important to find soy milk without additives – the ingredients should be just soy and water. If you absolutely can’t find this, you can make your own soy milk, or try with a soy milk that has some additives. Depending on which additives, it might work. I’ve had okay luck (but not quite the same results) with a brand that has a small amount of gellan gum.
Cultured Sour Cream
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened soy milk with no additives
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 80 g refined coconut oil (about 6 tbsp, measured melted)
- 1 tbsp plain soy yogurt with live cultures, preferably unsweetened
Instructions
- Warm the soy milk to above 25 degrees Celsius.I just microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute, until it's lukewarm.
- Add the soy milk, salt, and sugar in the blender.
- Melt the coconut oil.I microwave in 30 second increments, until it's mostly melted, and then stir until completely melted.
- Turn the blender on medium speed, and then remove the lid insert.
- Stream in the coconut oil, replace the lid insert, and then turn the blender up to high for a few seconds.
- Pour the cream into a jar (or bowl), and mix in the yogurt.
- Cover loosely (for example, with the jar lid, but not screwed entirely), and stash in a warm place for the next ~12 hours. I put it next to the heater. If the temperature is too low, it should work, but will take longer.
- Check the sour cream consistency and flavor every so often, and when it's thick and tangy enough for your taste, put it in the fridge. It should keep for several weeks (but I've never had it around for that long).