All about sour cream

Sour cream since ancient times was used in food in Russia. In many national cuisines sour cream is used as a sauce or dressing to the main dish.

Sour cream can be called a national dish in Russia.Slavs have long since made this product by keeping the milk warm, until the cream thickens. As soon as the cream thickened, they were placed in a cool place, where they had already “reached” sour cream. On average, the cooking process took about a day.

After a day the product was ready for use. He was very thick. If you put a spoon in a jar with such sour cream, the spoon will stand and will not fall.

It is worth noting that the production of milk products was waste-free. After cooking, sour cream made cottage cheese from the remaining yogurt, and whey was used in cooking. The origin of the word “sour cream” is also interesting. It takes its roots from the old Slavic "remove", which means "to sweep" or "collect."

So, sour cream - a product that belongs to fermented milk. It is made of cream and dairy ferment.

Sour cream is a versatile product that is used in cooking and cosmetology. The product has gained its popularity around the world due to its availability and ease of manufacture.

Sour cream is considered a national product in many countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus). It became widespread in Eastern Europe (the Baltic countries, Hungary, Romania, Germany).

The product is divided into types. Depending on the fat content, it is divided into 10%, 15%, 20%. These are the most popular types, they are almost always present in stores. There are other types, more fatty - thirty and forty percent. The maximum percentage of fat content - 58%. The composition of this fermented milk product is a lot of nutrients (fats, amino acids) and vitamins of groups B, C, D, K.

The useful properties of the product include strengthening the nervous system of the body. No wonder there is a perception that a glass of sour cream a day prolongs life.

Useful properties of sour cream since ancient times used to treat burns, both solar and mechanically obtained. The cool consistency of sour cream soothes irritated and damaged skin, cools and relieves burning sensation.

This fermented milk product contains a large number of lactic acid bacteria, thanks to which it is well absorbed.

Sour cream, like milk, contains enough calcium, which is necessary for the whole body. Calcium strengthens bones, improves growth and quality of nails and teeth. Calcium is best absorbed precisely when it is used in the composition of the product, and not as vitamins.

The production of sour cream in the modern world mainly takes place with the help of a separator. With it, the cream is separated from the rest of the milk used, then the cream is normalized to the required fat content.

Next, you need to get rid of pathogenic microflora. After that, a special leaven is added to the production.

Cream ripens about 24 hours at a temperature not higher than eight degrees Celsius. A day after all the stages of preparation, sour cream is obtained.

At home, there are two ways to make sour cream. The first is faster and lazy.

For the preparation of the product will require 0.5 liters of fresh cream (the percentage of fat - 35%), 3 tbsp. spoons purchased sour cream (suitable for low-fat - 15% or 20%). When choosing cream from the store, pay attention to their shelf life. It is not recommended to use cream with a long shelf life (more than six months).

In the absence of cream, you can use sour milk (yogurt) or kefir. All should be mixed and poured into a small jar or other container. The bank should be put in a warm place. Mix it is not worth it. During the day sour cream will be completely ready for use.

The second method is more complicated. Here for cooking you need to use unpasteurized milk, always fresh.Ideally, you should not use milk from the store, but purchase the product from farmers. Farm milk "from under the cow" has not been processed, it has a shorter shelf life, but it is also much fatter.

Prepared milk should be poured into a jar and left to stand in a warm place overnight. A layer of cream is formed on top of the milk. They need to be removed and tried. If the cream is slightly sour, then they should be cooled and put in the fridge. The remaining mass of sour milk is suitable for making yogurt or will be ideal for cooking. From one and a half liters of milk about 300 grams of sour cream will turn out.

The range of application of this dairy product is very diverse, from cooking to medicine and cosmetic purposes.

In the field of cooking sour cream is applied very extensively. It is used to prepare a variety of dishes, including as a filling sauce.

In traditional cuisines of the peoples of Russia, sour cream is usually served as a dressing for soups, both hot (borsch, hodgepodge) and cold (okroshka, sour soup). The product is added as a dressing sauce when stewing meat, fish and vegetables. It is this sauce that softens the taste of meat.

It is impossible to imagine a traditional Russian dish - dumplings - without sour cream. It is customary to serve it with pancakes, juicy pancakes and curd cheesecakes.

We should also mention the dressing of vegetable salads sour cream. The easiest summer salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and greens is often refueled to her. For people who do not use mayonnaise for various reasons, it will be an excellent analogue.

Confectioners use this product to make creams, desserts, add to various puddings and casseroles.

People who prefer healthy and proper nutrition can completely replace mayonnaise with sour cream in their diet. It is suitable for salad dressing, and for baking products. Add spice in this case by adding salt or soy sauce.

Liquid sour cream (10% and 15%) is best used for stewing vegetables, fish and meat, as well as to create a sauce. Fatty sour cream is good for making creams and puddings.

Sour cream has a lot of useful properties. This dairy product is well absorbed by the body. It is good for normalizing digestion in both children and adults.

The nutrients that the product contains are recommended for restoring the body after heavy physical exertion and exercise.

When buying sour cream is always worth paying attention to the name of the package. Many manufacturers, taking advantage of the carelessness of customers, sell sour cream product, which contains vegetable fats. This product has little in common with the usual sour cream and quite noticeably differs from it in taste.

But how to properly distinguish natural sour cream from sour cream product and its analogues? These are not so difficult. First of all, as mentioned above, you should pay attention to the packaging of the product.

According to its consistency, natural rather thick, homogeneous without impurities and lumps, white. It should not have extraneous odors and flavors.

On the packaging of the product should be indicated that it consists of natural cream and ferment.No impurities, additives (vegetable fats, starch, stabilizers and various emulsifiers) should not be present.

In some stores, sellers are cunning - they sell the product "by weight" in plastic containers without proper markings. Basically, they motivate this by the fact that it is a farm sour cream, which is supplied directly from the manufacturer to the store.

Then, if you purchased such a product, you can verify the authenticity of sour cream by a simple experiment. Separate a small amount of the product in a separate container and add a drop of iodine. Natural sour cream as a result of the experiment, only a little yellow, and sour cream product, which contains a lot of additives, turns blue.

Another way to test sour cream for authenticity is to dilute it in a small amount of water. It is better to use this proportion - in one glass of water dissolve one spoonful of sour cream. The natural is completely dissolved, the liquid will become a smooth, milky-white color. If the product is curtailed - it means that it is not fresh. Well, if a sediment remains at the bottom of the glass, then you have acquired not a natural product, but its substitute.

With a natural deal. What else should I look for when buying? Of course, for the shelf life of the goods. This dairy product can not be stored for a long time, the maximum shelf life rarely reaches one week.

Sour cream in a sealed sealed package lasts the longest - from five days to a week, subject to temperature conditions up to +5 degrees Celsius. An opened product, as well as stored in an untight container (plastic cups, etc.) has a shelf life of not more than 3 days.

Smetanny product, unlike natural, has a much longer shelf life (up to 3.5 weeks). It can not be stored in the refrigerator, since the manufacturer provides for storage in a warm place where the temperature can reach up to +20 degrees.

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How to choose sour cream, see the next video.