Sour cream: calories and composition, tips on how to eat

Sour cream is a fermented milk product obtained by thickening milk and fermenting it. It has long been in Russia, it was prepared in almost every home.A special leaven was lowered into a jug with milk and after a while the white thick mass obtained on its surface was “swept away”, for which it received its name. Modern kitchen is also hard to imagine without this product.

Sour cream is filled with salads, it is eaten with dumplings and dumplings, and various sauces and pastries are made on its basis. It is rather difficult to buy such a product abroad, because there they call it “Russian cream” and do not produce it on their own. However, these two products are not the same thing, in contrast to cream, sour cream is less calorie, and is easier absorbed by the human body.

Fermented milk bacteria, which are in sour cream, allow a person to easily get all the useful substances from it.

A nutrient in sour cream contains a huge amount: this is the vitamins of various groups, and a rich mineral composition:

• retinol (vitamin A) is good for eyesight;
• tocopherol (vitamin E) - promotes the absorption of retinol, and also dilutes the blood, removing the risk of blood clots;
• ascorbic acid (vitamin C) - has a tonic effect;
• Calciferol (vitamin D) - helps with rickets and a lack of calcium in the body;
• choline, riboflavin, biotin and other B vitamins also have many positive effects on the human body;
• iron and magnesium - are indicated for use to women in the period of gestation and childbirth;
• potassium and calcium - help build a healthy skeleton as the child grows up;
• copper is useful for the proper production of estrogen.

Due to this rich composition, sour cream has many useful properties.

• With its help, you can recuperate after a serious illness or exhaustion of the body.
• It has a positive effect on the nervous system due to the high content of vitamin B.
• Sour cream should be used for diseases of the intestine and stomach, constipation and ulcers. It normalizes the digestive system and relieves pain.
• It is useful for men to use this product in case of urinary tract diseases and to improve the quality of sperm.
• Sour cream smeared on burned skin with sunburns and used as a cosmetic. Masks from it moisturize and nourish the skin of the face and body.
• Sour-milk sour cream can be consumed by those people who do not digest regular milk.

Both adults and children love sour cream because of its tender milky taste with a slight sourness.

There are certain restrictions for its use.

• Oily sour cream is not recommended for people with obesity and overweight.
• Do not eat it and those people who are allergic to dairy products or lactose intolerance.
• Of course, the cholesterol content in fermented milk products is much lower than in vegetable oils, for example, sunflower or olive. However, their use is still not recommended for people with high cholesterol in the blood.
• You should not buy products with high fat content to those who have problems with the liver or gall bladder.

The fat content of sour cream directly affects its calorie content. Therefore, its nutritional value per 100 grams of product depends on the percentage indicated on the package.

The lightest fat-free product has a label that shows 10%, and per 100 g contains:

• 115 calories;
• 3 g of protein;
• 10 g of fat;
• 2,92 g of carbohydrates.

15% sour cream is more nutritious and contains:

• 160 kcal;
• 2.6 g of protein;
• 15 g fat;
• 3 g of carbohydrates.

One of the most popular products for many years remains a product with 20% fat, the composition of which is as follows:

• 207 kcal;
• 2.9 g of protein;
• 20 grams of fat;
• 3.2 g of carbohydrates.

Rarely enough on the shelves you can see sour cream with 25 or 30% fat. The first consists of 2.6 g of protein, 25 g of fat and 2.4 g of carbohydrates per 100 g, and has a caloric value of about 250 kcal. The second one contains very little proteins (2.3 g), but a lot of fats and carbohydrates (30 g and 3.3 g).In addition, such a fatty product has a lot of calories per 100 g (about 300 kcal). By its caloric content, it is only slightly inferior to mayonnaise, but still it is much more useful than its composition.

People who adhere to dietary nutrition constantly monitor the calorie content of each eaten dish. Nevertheless, it is rather difficult to calculate the calorie content of a salad or dough with sour cream, if you know its nutritional value only for 100 g. It is most convenient to count the caloric content of a product in 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon.

The rate of increase in blood glucose obtained from the digested food can be represented as a scale. This scale contains 100 divisions, where the figure 100 is the speed at the use of pure glucose. A specific product has its own speed on this scale, and this figure is called the glycemic index (GI) of the product. The most useful products have the lowest GI, they contain slow carbohydrates, which are processed by the body into energy. Food with fast carbohydrates does not give energy to the human body, but only increases the blood sugar and quickly deposited under the skin in the form of fat.

The glycemic index of sour cream, as well as its caloric content, depends on the percentage of fat content. In addition, for goods of the same fat content, but for different manufacturers, the GI index may differ significantly.

It depends on many factors:

• the quality of the initial raw materials and additives;
• shelf life of the goods;
• storage conditions;
• recipes.

It is impossible to determine the glycemic index of sour cream by yourself; for this you need a whole laboratory with sophisticated equipment. It is enough to roughly represent the average indicators to make a decision about the correctness of the use of one or another type of sour cream in food.

Sour cream of any fat content can be found in almost any grocery store or supermarket. However, if you can make it yourself from natural products, you should not neglect it.

For the simplest recipe for thick homemade cream, you will need:

• 1 l milk (unpasteurized);
• 4 tablespoons kefir.

Milk is brought to a boil and cooled to a temperature of 40 degrees. The warm liquid is poured into a glass jar and kefir is added to it. Everything is well shaken and cleaned in a warm place for 7-8 hours. You can wrap the jar with a warm blanket or a blanket so that the contents cool more slowly.

After the specified time, the contents of the can is reclined on gauze, laid on a colander, and drains in a cool place for another 7-8 hours. To sour cream became thicker, you need to periodically stir the mass - so the whey is separated faster. Ready sour cream can be whipped with a blender to make it more uniform and smooth. The finished product is stored in a refrigerator in a glass container.

Sour cream is a universal product. It is used in cosmetology, and in traditional medicine and, of course, in cooking. It is added to first courses, for example, to borscht or solyanka. On the basis of the product prepare the dough for various baking. It is used as an ingredient in dishes such as goulash or julienne. Sour cream sauce with chopped greens is perfect for many main dishes: various cereals, dumplings and meatballs, potatoes and cheesecakes.

Sour cream is seasoned with any salads and used in desserts. If you mix sour cream with sugar and fill in this sauce with fresh strawberries, you get an excellent fruit salad, not only tasty, but also healthy.Many fans of fermented milk product make on its basis various drinks. Especially good is the mixture with tomato or carrot juice.

About what sour cream to choose in the store, see the next video.