Lactose free sour cream
*Cups and measures are in Australian cups and measures. Use gram and ml for international accuracy.
Ingredients
- 300 ml cream with 35-45% fat (thickened/heavy cream at 35% or double cream at 45%)
- 60 ml (1/4 cup)* milk (ONLY if you use cream with 45% fat)
- 10 drops of lactase you can experiment with more or less, it’s not an exact science
- 20 ml (1 tablespoon)* white vinegar
Instructions
- Add the lactase drops to your 35% cream (thickened cream/heavy cream). If you are using 45% double cream, add 60ml full fat milk. This will probably be too much liquid for the cream container, so decant it into a thoroughly clean medium size glass jar.
- Stir to combine then return to the fridge for 24-48 hours to allow the lactase enzyme to consume the lactose content of the dairy.
- If you haven't already, decant the cream into a clean, dry medium sized glass jar and stir in the vinegar. Cover the jar with a piece of paper/kitchen towel secured with a rubber band.
- Leave the cream on the bench for 24-48 hours or until you can tip the jar to the side and see that it has thickened considerably. This will take longer for cream with less fat – it took my 35% fat cream batch around 48 hours in Australian winter. I suspect that hot kitchens and climates will culture sour cream at a faster pace than cold kitchens and climates, so keep an eye on it.
- Check on your sour cream after 24 hours. Open it, stir it and taste it. If it hasn’t thickened or doesn’t taste soured enough, secure the paper towel back over the cream and allow to sit for another 24 hours. Repeat again – stir and taste.
- Continue until you can tip the cream in the jar and it is visibly thickened. It might not be quite as thick as store bought, but it will thicken further in the fridge.
- When you are happy with the taste and texture, transfer the covered jar to the fridge overnight to firm up.
- Your lactose free sour cream is now ready to use!
Notes
- Read the notes in the body of the post for best results.
- The lower the fat percentage of the cream, the longer it will take to thicken. 35% fat cream (thickened/heavy cream) will make more of a yoghurt consistency sour cream, whereas 45% sour cream will make thick sour cream that holds firm on the spoon.
- Sour cream should ferment more quickly in summer and slower in winter.
- Because lactose free dairy is sweeter than regular dairy, I find a longer fermentation (and thus, more funky flavours) tastes better. This is great because the 35% fat version takes longer to ferment, anyway.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!