Cultured Cream

Sour cream is also known as cultured cream. It is produced by fermentation of ultra-pasteurized cream or half and half that contains 18-20% fat content. I use this in place of sour cream in recipes and love that not only does it taste wonderful, but it also has probiotics. We ferment the yogurt longer - 12 hours, which results in a rich and thick curd that looks and tastes just like sour cream, only better! I also use this cream in desserts that call for mascarpone cheese and you can even whip the cream until it's light and fluffy. You'll never need to buy sour cream again and you can re-culture this using your first batch as a starter making it very affordable.

Equipment

1 Yogurt Maker
1 Thermometer

Ingredients

32 ounces Heavy Cream, ultra-pasteurized or Half and Half ultra-pasteurized
1 package Yogurt Plus

Instructions

Place the milk in a saucepan and gently heat to 180°F. Once the temperature is reached, remove from heat and let it cool to 100°F-110°F.
Once the temperature is 100-110°F degrees, whisk in one package of the yogurt starter. This spreads the good bacteria throughout all the milk.
Place milk in the yogurt maker without the lid and incubate in your yogurt maker for 12 hours at 104°F. You'll know it's done when you see a thick curd.
Place a secure lid on the yogurt jar and place it in the fridge to cool and set. Cool the yogurt in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. As the yogurt cools, it will get even thicker!
This should last 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Reculturing

To make a new batch, repeat these instructions except use 2 tablespoons of yogurt as your starter.