Sour Cream- like storebought

[nextyear]

Has anyone mastered sour cream that is identical to store bought?  My 4th child (well 5th also but number 4 is the one this concerns) is extraordinarily picky.  I don't understand why as my first 3 children are great eaters and were from the start, but the kid subsists on cheese, bread, and some veggies.  He doesn't like anything "sticky" so any sauces, sweet treats, fruit, etc literally make him cry (sometimes I wonder if he has a sensory processing disorder or something but he has never been tested).  It's not like he's holding out for dessert because he refuses to touch anything like that too.  I don't offer snacks and he only gets what is served and he will happily skip meals rather than even touch any other foods.  He'll hold out until there is a meal that contains one of his "ok" foods.  One food that he will oddly allow is store bought sour cream.  He'll eat it by the spoonful like yogurt (but he won't touch yogurt!  Even when I put it in a sour cream container and pretend it is....).  Up to this point I haven't had enough cream to make homemade sour cream so its been store bought all along for him.  Now with 2 cows I have some cream to spare and I wanted to tackle homemade.  I'm not opposed to heating the milk or even adding thickeners like Guar and Xanthan gum if I can just get it to mimic store bought so that the boy will eat it.  I'm not sure how to do it though?  Anyone have any ideas?  I can't get him to consume any of the dairy that we produce so far (other than butter which I put on his foods generously for nutrition)....he won't drink milk (even chocolate), eat yogurt or eat my homemade cheese (my other kids love to reheat my homemade mozzarella so it is stretch like fresh and he saw that once and has deemed all of my homemade cheese as "sticky" even if its cold and absolutely not sticky.  Up to now he has still gotten by on store bought cheddar (which is orange because that's what is available in bulk locally) but if all the cheese I made this spring tastes decent I plan to phase that out.  I bought annatto recently and hope that maybe I can fool him into thinking the orange cheese is the same as the orange cheddar that he will eat.  He's 3.5 and too observant for me to sneak much past him but I continue to try.  

[kim'scows]

I’m making sour cream today! I’ve taken to using a method very similar to yogurt and I get sour cream that is very much like store bought sour cream.

I use cream separator cream, thinned with a little whole milk since our cream separator can only put out very heavy cream. I heat the cream to 180 degrees while stirring, then set the pot in a sink of ice water and stir and cool it to 88 degrees. Add sour cream culture, pour it into sterilized quart jars and place them in an insulated cooler for 12-24 hours or until thickened (usually closer to 24 hours since my house tends to be on the cool side). Then, being careful not to shake the jars and disturb the curd at all, I put them in the fridge to cool and when it’s fully chilled it’s very thick like store bought sour cream.

I think the extra step of heating it first helps it end up thicker, just like with yogurt.

[nextyear]

Nov 28, 2023 7:24:51 GMT -5 kim'scows said:

I’m making sour cream today! I’ve taken to using a method very similar to yogurt and I get sour cream that is very much like store bought sour cream.

I use cream separator cream, thinned with a little whole milk since our cream separator can only put out very heavy cream. I heat the cream to 180 degrees while stirring, then set the pot in a sink of ice water and stir and cool it to 88 degrees. Add sour cream culture, pour it into sterilized quart jars and place them in an insulated cooler for 12-24 hours or until thickened (usually closer to 24 hours since my house tends to be on the cool side). Then, being careful not to shake the jars and disturb the curd at all, I put them in the fridge to cool and when it’s fully chilled it’s very thick like store bought sour cream.

I think the extra step of heating it first helps it end up thicker, just like with yogurt.

Oh awesome!  Which sour cream culture are you using?

[Lannie]

I'm interested to know, too. I've done sour cream by using some store-bought as the starter culture but it only comes out tasting like sour cream once. If I use some of that to start the next batch, it would taste like half sour cream and half clabber, and by the third incarnation, I just had clabber. No trace of sour cream texture or taste. I gave up trying to keep a sour cream culture going, so I guess if I want some, I'll have to use a freeze dried culture, but I don't know which one to use, either.

[Kelsey]

Pasteurize and use Meso B culture.

[rosalind]

I use Flora Danica, which I believe is comparable to Meso B.

To get the proper thickness, it's all about getting thick enough cream and good culturing. I'm not willing to pasteurize, but I'm happy with the raw version results and the cream lasts shockingly long still.

[jerseyrose]

Not my business ( i know and you can tell me to get lost ) but let the poor child eat the things he likes ?

If that is store bought sour cream and orange cheddar cheese I would not mess with trying to forcing him or tricking him into eating the stuff you make that he does not like.

My 3 were raised exactly the same eating wise and my daughter is very selective in what she likes, that is just her and I never forced her to eat anything.

She grew up strong and extremely healthy and as an adult I actually see her trying foods she never did as a child/ teen.

[nextyear]

Nov 28, 2023 14:05:11 GMT -5 jerseyrose said:

Not my business ( i know and you can tell me to get lost ) but let the poor child eat the things he likes ?

If that is store bought sour cream and orange cheddar cheese I would not mess with trying to forcing him or tricking him into eating the stuff you make that he does not like.

My 3 were raised exactly the same eating wise and my daughter is very selective in what she likes, that is just her and I never forced her to eat anything.

She grew up strong and extremely healthy and as an adult I actually see her trying foods she never did as a child/ teen.

I can understand where you are coming from, but I was him as a child and actually wish my parents pushed me harder on eating new foods.  I was absolutely embarrassed to go to friends houses and I couldn't bare to eat any of their foods.  I lived on jelly sandwiches on white bread (with no crust), chicken nuggets and strawberry frosted poptarts.  It's really not that I didn't like the other foods, I had never actually been willing to try them.  I didn't eat any vegetables at all until my 20s and even now I have to push myself to eat them.  My first 3 kids are extremely adventurous eaters and I never did anything different with them.  Just started putting food in front of them around the time they could sit up and never fed any kid specific meals, just shared the normal meals with them.  We don't grocery shop often and much of how we afford to have a large family on one income is by growing our own.  If I let him eat only a select few things my others start to push back that they'd rather have this or that and before I know it everyone wants fruit loops for breakfast and the eggs we grow ourselves are going bad.  

[nextyear]

Nov 28, 2023 13:20:30 GMT -5 rosalind said:

I use Flora Danica, which I believe is comparable to Meso B.

To get the proper thickness, it's all about getting thick enough cream and good culturing. I'm not willing to pasteurize, but I'm happy with the raw version results and the cream lasts shockingly long still.

I just ordered some of this culture, perfect!

[nextyear]

Nov 28, 2023 9:44:37 GMT -5 Kelsey said:

Pasteurize and use Meso B culture.

When you pasteurize can you carry a spoonful of starter from batch to batch or do you need fresh culture each time?   

[Lannie]

I always pasteurized my milk before using the store-bought sour cream starter. Always. But I always ended up with clabber after a bit. Where do you get "Meso B" culture? Cheesemaking.com? I guess I'll do an internet search and see if I find it somewhere.

[kim'scows]

Nov 28, 2023 7:31:00 GMT -5 nextyear said:

Nov 28, 2023 7:24:51 GMT -5 kim'scows said:

.

Oh awesome!  Which sour cream culture are you using?

I use this one: dairyconnection.com/dpl-901-bm-sc/ which is a mesophilic culture.

[ktfarms]

Nov 28, 2023 14:05:11 GMT -5 jerseyrose said:

Not my business ( i know and you can tell me to get lost ) but let the poor child eat the things he likes ?

If that is store bought sour cream and orange cheddar cheese I would not mess with trying to forcing him or tricking him into eating the stuff you make that he does not like.

My 3 were raised exactly the same eating wise and my daughter is very selective in what she likes, that is just her and I never forced her to eat anything.

She grew up strong and extremely healthy and as an adult I actually see her trying foods she never did as a child/ teen.

And see, it is also none of my business, but my suggestion would be to research occupational and/or feeding therapy to help him meet his sensory needs and be able to cope better with things out of his comfort zone. Sensory struggles can be hard but they can be helped through play therapy.

[Kelsey]

Nov 28, 2023 14:28:14 GMT -5 nextyear said:

Nov 28, 2023 9:44:37 GMT -5 Kelsey said:

Pasteurize and use Meso B culture.

When you pasteurize can you carry a spoonful of starter from batch to batch or do you need fresh culture each time?   

The pasteurization is to make it taste like store bought. So carrying over culture won't really affect that. However, if you just bought the proper culture I would stick with that - use an 1/8 tsp each time and it will last a year or two.
I imagine you could start out pasteurizing and then gradually lower the cook temp/time each batch until it's raw and maybe he'll be fine with the flavor. But if your milk/cream isn't absolutely fresh and pristine the raw sour cream will develop off flavors very easily.

[josiegirl]

Nov 28, 2023 14:50:54 GMT -5 ktfarms said:

Nov 28, 2023 14:05:11 GMT -5 jerseyrose said:

Not my business ( i know and you can tell me to get lost ) but let the poor child eat the things he likes ?

If that is store bought sour cream and orange cheddar cheese I would not mess with trying to forcing him or tricking him into eating the stuff you make that he does not like.

My 3 were raised exactly the same eating wise and my daughter is very selective in what she likes, that is just her and I never forced her to eat anything.

She grew up strong and extremely healthy and as an adult I actually see her trying foods she never did as a child/ teen.

And see, it is also none of my business, but my suggestion would be to research occupational and/or feeding therapy to help him meet his sensory needs and be able to cope better with things out of his comfort zone. Sensory struggles can be hard but they can be helped through play therapy.

This is a good idea! I think next year's hunch that it's a sensory thing sounds plausible.

I didn't think it was possible to make store bought sour cream now I ant to try

[avejoseph]

I made a cream cheese with half milk and half cream and flora Danica. When it strains you can pick your consistency. It thickens once it cools. I can’t remember if I used a whisk attachment or stick blender but it was creamy smooth and the consistency of sour cream. It was decadent actually!

[nextyear]

Nov 28, 2023 17:14:38 GMT -5 avejoseph said:

I made a cream cheese with half milk and half cream and flora Danica. When it strains you can pick your consistency. It thickens once it cools. I can’t remember if I used a whisk attachment or stick blender but it was creamy smooth and the consistency of sour cream. It was decadent actually!

I use the stick blender for perfectly smooth Greek yogurt. Glad to hear it works on this without turning straight to butter. I made quark once and it was very grainy after straining and I couldn’t get that smooth for anything.

[jerseyrose]

Nov 28, 2023 14:26:57 GMT -5 nextyear said:

Nov 28, 2023 14:05:11 GMT -5 jerseyrose said:

Not my business ( i know and you can tell me to get lost ) but let the poor child eat the things he likes ?

If that is store bought sour cream and orange cheddar cheese I would not mess with trying to forcing him or tricking him into eating the stuff you make that he does not like.

My 3 were raised exactly the same eating wise and my daughter is very selective in what she likes, that is just her and I never forced her to eat anything.

She grew up strong and extremely healthy and as an adult I actually see her trying foods she never did as a child/ teen.

I can understand where you are coming from, but I was him as a child and actually wish my parents pushed me harder on eating new foods.  I was absolutely embarrassed to go to friends houses and I couldn't bare to eat any of their foods.  I lived on jelly sandwiches on white bread (with no crust), chicken nuggets and strawberry frosted poptarts.  It's really not that I didn't like the other foods, I had never actually been willing to try them.  I didn't eat any vegetables at all until my 20s and even now I have to push myself to eat them.  My first 3 kids are extremely adventurous eaters and I never did anything different with them.  Just started putting food in front of them around the time they could sit up and never fed any kid specific meals, just shared the normal meals with them.  We don't grocery shop often and much of how we afford to have a large family on one income is by growing our own.  If I let him eat only a select few things my others start to push back that they'd rather have this or that and before I know it everyone wants fruit loops for breakfast and the eggs we grow ourselves are going bad.  

Well it does sound like he has factors that contribute to his food aversions which is why I cautioned not to force him as it can backfire badly.

So you decide to introduce or have him eat a food he doesn't want to. What happens next?

I am not being argumentative. I raised 3 very strong willed kids and am strong willed myself and wonder what the next move would be ?

I tried it once on my daughter and in the end we both lost

[nextyear]

Nov 29, 2023 13:51:50 GMT -5 jerseyrose said:

Nov 28, 2023 14:26:57 GMT -5 nextyear said:

I can understand where you are coming from, but I was him as a child and actually wish my parents pushed me harder on eating new foods.  I was absolutely embarrassed to go to friends houses and I couldn't bare to eat any of their foods.  I lived on jelly sandwiches on white bread (with no crust), chicken nuggets and strawberry frosted poptarts.  It's really not that I didn't like the other foods, I had never actually been willing to try them.  I didn't eat any vegetables at all until my 20s and even now I have to push myself to eat them.  My first 3 kids are extremely adventurous eaters and I never did anything different with them.  Just started putting food in front of them around the time they could sit up and never fed any kid specific meals, just shared the normal meals with them.  We don't grocery shop often and much of how we afford to have a large family on one income is by growing our own.  If I let him eat only a select few things my others start to push back that they'd rather have this or that and before I know it everyone wants fruit loops for breakfast and the eggs we grow ourselves are going bad.  

Well it does sound like he has factors that contribute to his food aversions which is why I cautioned not to force him as it can backfire badly.

So you decide to introduce or have him eat a food he doesn't want to. What happens next?

I am not being argumentative. I raised 3 very strong willed kids and am strong willed myself and wonder what the next move would be ?

I tried it once on my daughter and in the end we both lost

Well I always put a bite of new foods, or turned away foods on his plate and ask him to eat some, but he rarely does.  I mean I can't make him eat so there is only so much I can do.  The other day we had pasta which is typically his favorite and he has eaten many times.  I wouldn't give him anything else at that meal because I knew full well that he has eaten and enjoyed it many times, but he was mad that it wasn't a different kind of pasta so he refused it.  If we are having something that I know is a long shot, say pulled pork sandwiches, I will still put pulled pork on his plate and I would keep his roll separate.  I would also pick a veggie that I know he likes (greenbeans, peas, corn, peppers, cucumbers) to go with it.  So a meal like that I would expect him to eat the roll and veggies and I would heavily butter his food. I try to be reasonable to make sure he eats something but at times he'll even refuse foods he has eaten and choose to wait for the next meal.  He is growing on his growth curve and when I brought it up with his doctor he said that as long as he eats something each day and hits all the food groups over the course of the week he isn't concerned at his age.  My goal is to turn him on to our homegrown foods though as much as possible though.  It's uncharted territory for me though because I've never had a picky child before so I don't know what it will look like as he grows.  Kind of like sleeping babies, when you have the first one that doesn't sleep it feels huge but once you have a few under your belt and you know eventually they come around it doesn't seem so bad.  I just don't know when or if the "come around" will ever happen.   

[kim'scows]

nextyear You are doing fine. It’s a luxury in our society to cater to picky eaters (and yes I understand the difference between pickiness and medical need).

This is an interesting study which shines light on how cultural practices can affect childrens’ attitudes toward food:
assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-297653/v1/e902373c-9aec-4fd7-a904-0e24d9e7d39b.pdf?c=1631880005