Sour Cream: Cultured dairy’s unsung hero
The dairy product receives little press but should not be taken for granted.
Photo courtesy of LauriPatterson / E+ / Getty Images Plus
Sour cream is a cultured product that doesn’t get a lot of press. It is also a dairy product that we often take for granted because we think it is limited to very traditional uses, such as baked potato topping, or served with chili, tacos, and a base for dips.
In many ways, it’s a dairy product that is also a condiment. There are many more uses for sour cream in cooking and baking, but our focus for this article is the sour cream itself. After doing a new product search of the last three years of sour cream introductions on Innova Market Insights, it is clear there is some innovation happening but not a lot. There were a total of 90 new product introductions for sour cream in North America in the last three years. Many of these products were traditional sour cream, reduced fat, and fat-free products, but there were some standouts that deserve to be mentioned. A half dozen of them were sour cream alternatives, but they won’t be included in this article.
Sour cream basics
Before we get into a new product discussion, it is important to review the basics of sour cream. Sour cream has a standard of identity (SOI) in the Code of Federal Regulations under 21CFR 131.160. “Sour cream results from the souring, by lactic acid producing bacteria, of pasteurized cream. Sour cream contains not less than 18% milkfat; except that when the food is characterized by the addition of nutritive sweeteners or bulky flavoring ingredients, the weight of the milkfat is not less than 18% of the remainder obtained by subtracting the weight of such optional ingredients from the weight of the food; but in no case does the food contain less than 14.4% milkfat. Sour cream has a titratable acidity of not less than 0.5% calculated as lactic acid.”
The traditional flavor profile of sour cream comes from the mesophilic cultures, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris which ferment the lactose into lactate by the homofermentative pathway. Lactococcus lactis biovar diacetylactis is a flavor-producing strain that also degrades citrate and produces carbon dioxide and the flavor compounds acetoin, ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetate and the characteristic diacetyl flavor.
Leuconostoc spp. ferments lactose to lactate, ethanol, acetate, and carbon dioxide by the heterofermentative pathway. Leuconostoc can also metabolize citrate into the flavor compounds, acetoin, diacetyl, acetate, ethanol and carbon dioxide. Similar to yogurt, you will see varying levels of flavor coming from the cultures in the sour cream category. When it comes to texture, the 18-plus% fat in sour cream provides the full body and smooth mouthfeel. For products that are lower in fat, cultures such as Streptococcus thermophilus can be added to a sour cream culture to help develop a thicker body in products that are lower in fat.
All natural plus
There seems to be two main types of sour cream products. The brands that use the term “all natural” typically contain cultured cream and enzymes, while the other category is not quite so clean label and also contains ingredients like gums, starch, carrageenan, citrate and sorbate.
Both types can have good flavor and texture. It’s really a matter of consumer preference and what you are used to buying. In addition to clean label, the clean-label brands have sour cream with added probiotics or lactose-free claims. There is an A2/A2 organic brand that also fits in the clean-label category. “Pasture raised” is another term used on some labels that provides a positive image for consumers. One brand lists “triple churned and extra creamy,” which is a term used more commonly for ice cream brands. In this case, it indicates a process (likely homogenization) that provides a thicker, creamier texture.
One innovation that I expected to see in the all-natural category was sour cream with added flavors. Most of us think of sour cream dips, but they are typically full of other ingredients and often don’t fit the sour cream SOI. There was only one brand in the last three years that had a new sour cream with added flavors and it was a specialty sour cream with cilantro and lime. It seems there is an opportunity for others to innovate with added flavors.
Ethnicity
Similar to other cultured products, sour cream is a product that is used by other ethnic groups, but it is called by a different name. Crema is the product from Mexico, often called crema Mexicana, crema agria, or crema fresca, but it originated with the Spanish, who settled in Mexico. The flavor of crema is tart but not as tart as our sour cream. It typically has added salt, so it tastes much saltier than our sour cream.
Crema also has a texture that is much thinner than sour cream, so it can be drizzled over dishes. Some of the new products launched over the last few years were cremas, which is a reflection of the popularity of Mexican food and the desire to integrate more of the authentic foods and flavors. Some of the names used on the products were Crema Chihuahua, Crema Mexicana, Crema Mexicana de Casa, Crema Salvadoreña, Crema Centro Americana, and Mexican sour cream. Some of the crema launches had added flavors such as cilantro and lime or picante. Because crema has a much lower viscosity than sour cream, you will also see many of the products packaged in a convenient squeeze tube format.
New packaging
Crema is not the only sour cream-type product that is using a squeeze tube format. Though the traditional packaging for sour cream is an 8- or 16-ounce tub, some traditional sour cream brands have also added the option of purchasing their product in a squeeze tube. This format is nice for topping a baked potato or any other dish and offers the convenience of not needing a spoon to dispense the sour cream. It also offers the ability to be creative and try some decorative ways of adding sour cream, just like frosting in a tube.
Beyond this handful of innovations for sour cream, there appears to be a lot of room for new product development. Sour cream provides such a creamy, mildly acidic base for which many different flavors could be added to be drizzled over lots of new meal creations.
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
