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Have you ever opened your jar of milk, only to find that it smells and tastes sour? What todo with soured cream?
Today’s member question comes from DeDe:
“I have some raw cream that’s been in my fridge for about a month. It now smells sour but not quite like sour cream. What can I do with it? It doesn’t smell “bad” necessarily like pasteurized cream would smell and it’s not clumpy. It’s very thick, though, just like thick cream.”
Boy, I’ve been there! And I have great news for you.
As you know, raw milk and cream sour rather than spoil. That’s reason #4 on my list of 6 Reasons (Raw) Cultured Dairy Is So Fabulous! So, you can still use this cream!
In fact, gently soured cream makes the best cultured butter. You can even sour it a bit more by adding a mother culture — such as buttermilk with active cultures, or a mesophilic cheese culture.
Check out our Cultured Dairy and Cheese eCourse for a video demonstration of how to make cultured butter!
What To Do With Soured Cream
If you want to use your soured cream right away, drizzle it on burritos, tacos, chili, soups, stews, potatoes, oatmeal, granola, or even fresh fruit! It makes a wonderful creme fraiche. Even chocolate ice cream is fantastic just a teensy bit sour.
Add it at the end and make sure it doesn’t get too hot, and voila, you’ve just boosted or added probiotic benefits to your meal!
Do you prefer your soured cream just a bit more sour? Leave it out at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours for the cream to develop its culture. Or, boost the culturing by adding live buttermilk or a mesophilic culture.
How do you use slightly soured cream?
...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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About Wardee Harmon
Wardee lives in the Boise area of Idaho with her dear family. She's the lead teacher and founder of the Eat God's Way online cooking program as well as the author of Fermenting, Sourdough A to Z, and other traditional cooking books. Eat God's Way helps families get healthier and happier using cooking methods and ingredients from Bible Times like sourdough, culturing, and ancient grains.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Laurie says That’s the cool thing about raw dairy – it does sour and remain usable. Pasteurized dairy simply rots/goes rancid and is not usable once it ages. Thanks for sharing.
- Wardee says
I know — raw dairy is SO awesome. I love it!
- leeann says
Hello, I separated off the cream from my raw milk as soon as I brought it home to use as,a creamer and it has separated and looks like it went sour quickly. I would like to make cheese with it. Is that possible? Is there a video on how to make cheese? Thank you
- rebecca says
I was wondering about this myself and I finally just threw it out, because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Now I know better… :0)
I also have a question…..I put some sour milk in a glass jar with a lid in the fridge because I know you can still use it. However, I never got around to using and it sat in the fridge for several months. During that time, it seperated into a yellowish-greenish liquid on bottom and thick white stuff on top. It didn’t smell bad…..sort of yeast-y. I wondered if that was curds and whey? I have seen several posts about making whey and they all say to leave it out at room temperature, but is it possible to do in the fridge?
- Wardee says
Rebecca — That is completely normal behavior. Over the time, the acidity causes the curds to clump and the whey to separate out — in other words: clabbered cheese! And yes, it can happen in the refrigerator. The beneficial organisms (yeasts and bacteria) in the milk proliferate at lower temperatures too, just more slowly. If it smells yeasty but not spoiled, it is still good! (Though very sour, likely.) You may have bits of mold or spoiled parts floating on top. If so, those can be skimmed off.
I suggest straining it through cheesecloth and using the “cheese” in dips, dressings, spread on toast, seasoned up with herbs and salt…. MM…. one of my favorite foods! Clabbered milk cheese. The whey can be used in lacto-ferments and for soaking grains, beans, or flour.
- alex says
Hi Wardee baby! I have some raw soured cream in my fridge that is so thick when you turn it over in the container it does NOT drip out at all! I am planning on making cultured butter out of it this week! Very cool question. i also keep two milk jugs in the fridge, the fresh milk and the soured which I use in all cooking. There is never a need to dump raw milk under normal circ*mstances and it can always be made into cheese too! I love it and I will always use it! What’s up with Tuesday Twister?? Stopped by to link up, hope all is well with you! Alex
- Wardee says
Alex — You know what? I hate to admit this, but I totally forgot about Tuesday Twister! Sheesh! I hurried to get out the door this morning to a full day of errands and it slipped my mind! My apologies. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, though — it is always great to “see” you! (P.S. I’m writing from the library…. )
- Margie Yurko says
How do you process the soured cream. I have some cream from a dairy that soured. Iwant to use it but don’t know how. Help is appreciated
- Sonya says
Hi, Margie: You want to make sure that the cream is raw, so that it is soured but not spoiled. Also, Wardee mentions in the post that you can use the soured cream as is, or you can add a culture to it to further sour or culture it, or you can use it to make cultured butter (in a blender or food processor). —Sonya, TCS Customer Success Team
- Karen says
Hi, Wardee. I was wondering if you know how long sour milk remains useable if kept refrigerated. Even just an estimate. Thanks for any help you can give. ~Karen
- Wardee says
Karen, it can keep for many weeks. It depends on the conditions exactly how many weeks or months. It will get more sour over time, yeasty smelling, and separate into curds and whey. There may be bits of mold on the surface. Those can be skimmed off, and the rest you’d want to do a smell check to see if the mold has penetrated. If it just smells sour, it is likely good — though very strong!
This is great information. Thanks for sharing.
- Leah says
Butter from soured cream is awesome!
- Doris says
Hi, I just signed up for this site and I have a similar situation wt. sour half and half but it is not a raw milk product but it is exactlly as DeDe described. So is my product ok to us also.
- Wardee says
Doris — If the half and half was not raw, it will have spoiled rather than soured. Because pasteurization kills beneficial organisms naturally present in the milk, there’s no protection from spoiling bacteria getting a foothold. So you should go by the expiration date on the package as well as your nose to see if you can still use it. If in doubt, toss it. If you think it is marginal but leaning toward ok — cook it!
- Sarah says
So…somebody from my milkshare didn’t pick up their milk the other week. I let it sit out, cultured it, and got cheese and butter. They look awesome and have wonderful texture, but just the smell is enough to make me sick to my stomach. They don’t smell rancid or spoiled, just a weird sour that I’m don’t really like. Is this normal? I’m not scared to eat it (actually I think it’s awesome), I just think it tastes really bad. Is it an acquired taste?
- Wardee says
Sarah — Yes, it is an acquired taste. And also the taste can vary from batch to batch depending on the milk source. The first time I made cultured butter, my husband didn’t really like it. But he has liked it since then and the last batch was a bit sweet and sour. Just delicious!
What you’ve described sounds completely normal — and I think you just need to adjust to it. At least I hope so! 🙂
- Ashley Baird says
Do any of you ladies have trouble with soured cream tasting bitter? Not just sour, but bitter and awful. It doesn’t always taste that bad, but my soured cream (on top of sour milk, not plain) always tastes a little bitter and last time it was terrible. I though perhaps the cow had eaten something bitter.
I have had the same trouble with homemade butter sometimes tasting bad. I don’t know if the taste is just too hard to acquire or if I’m doing something wrong. Have you found that it’s better to use fresh milk or cream to make sour things, or old (like last week’s milk that you didn’t use up)?
- Michelle says
I have had soured cream also taste bitter and wonder what on earth happened? It seems that it is more bitter more often than just sour. The soured cream that isn’t bitter has a lovely and rather pleasant soured taste. The bitter cream on the other hand is terrible! Anyone else have those problems or know what the cause may be? I was wondering if the jars in which the farmers put the milk maybe weren’t clean enough and had some undfriendly bacteria that would give the milk a bitter taste. It is very unpleasant and not at all what soured cream should taste like from what I remember as a kid. We do have the occasionaly batch, however, that sours very nicely.
I would so like to hear what others have to say about this!
Wardee, God bless you for sharing your knowledge!
- Mary Olbricht says
Years ago we would only save the morning milk for ourselves, and the evening milk went to the farm animals. Evening milk often had a “green” taste to it. So, I think that the different taste was due to what the cow ate. Good Luck.
- Wardee says
Ashley — If there’s a bitter taste, yes — it could be something the cow ate. Or, as Michelle suggested, it could be that something got in the milk, not to spoil it necessarily, but to compete with the fresh flavors.
Those are usually the culprits. It does happen. As you know, home culturing does not take place in a lab and there are variables, sometimes out of our control — or over time, to be improved. 🙂
- Wardee says
Ashely — On your last question. I have not noticed a difference in which cream I use for butter. Although I have to say I enjoy the older myself for the more complex sour flavor. I think my husband prefers the fresher that is then cultured. 🙂
- Ashley says
Thank you for the tips. I guess I’ll have to keep trying and make sure my jars are quite clean.
- Natasha Turner says
Ashley, Michelle, and Wardee,
This is just the conversation I was looking for. I have had some stress-related health issues crop up that have necessitated me cutting out even healthy sugars and grains for a while. 🙁 I find myself eating a lot more dairy, since we have finally found a reliable/affordable source.
However, we often have extra that goes sour. Years ago, I tried to make my own raw clabbered cheese, etc., but I could never get used to the taste. Now, I still can’t bear to waste our soured milk, so I have been experimenting with kefir, clabbered cheese, soured milk, and buttermilk ranch-type dressing. I can’t say I am having much success learning to like them yet though.
I find myself putting off having to eat them until there is not much left in the house for me to eat or until there is a chance they will be so sour I would have to give them to the animals. 🙁 It makes eating a dread, and I know that’s not good. I guess this isn’t much of a question, just a little vent.
I have noticed some of the end results tasting bitter. The others (sorry for the detail) are an and/or between bitter and barf. If you flavor them up enough it becomes more faint, but it is still lurking, and since I have a no sugar option right now, I am stuck with only stevia, which you must carefully moderate, lest it add its own bitterness.
We made raw strawberry ice cream for our daughter’s birthday last night, and since my skin was clearing up, and it only had honey, I splurged a little. It was good, but since the cream was at least six days old it had just begun to sour. All through eating it, I could taste a hint of bitterness. Everybody else loved it and didn’t seem to notice. Hubby said he noticed, but he still loved it.
We get our raw milk from some folks who supplement with some non-organic grains, and since it is winter . . . Maybe it is more than usual? I wonder if there are bitter residues in that? I just wish I could get used to the taste and look forward to it.
Does anyone have a very specific starter recipe without sugar that could get me craving it? Or in lieu of that, is there a culture that someone has bought and had good success with that I should buy (i.e piima cream or similar) to aid the culturing process with a better flavor?
- Natasha Turner says
I should probably clarify what I said at the end about the cultured products tasting like barf. The products haven’t gone bad, and I can eat them without getting sick. The smell and taste is just sometimes so similar to the aforementioned term that it turns me off. It is not a revolting smell just not one I particularly crave. At the same time, I am one of those people who have to walk out of the room if someone is sick to their stomach, because the smell or sound can make me join them. Is there any hope for me? I want cultured dairy in my life. I know it is good for me, even better than sweet milk in terms of probiotics. I sense I need them to help me get back to optimal health.
- DeDe says
Wow! Thanks for all the great suggestions. I guess I wasn’t nicknamed “Twenty Questions” in 5th grade for nothing, right?
thanks, Wardee.
DeDe
- Gluten Free Diva says
Sort of related question….I have some Goat’s Milk Kefir in my frig….homemade….how long will it last? And can I still use the kefir grains after I pour off the milk? It’s been in the frig for about two weeks. Thank you in advance! I (and my gluten free blog readers) would love to know!
- Wardee says
Hi, Gluten Free Diva!
Like Karen’s sour milk above, the goat’s milk kefir can keep for many weeks. It depends on the conditions exactly how many weeks or months. It will get more sour over time, yeasty and even alcoholic smelling, and separate into curds and whey. If you get bits of mold on the surface, skim them off. To see if the rest is good, do a smell check. If it is sour, alcoholic, and yeasty, it is probably okay. It is usually strong/sour after a few weeks.
Yes, the grains can be poured off and used again. A good way to store them in between batches is in a small amount of milk in the refrigerator, changed weekly. Even if you don’t change weekly, the grains are probably going to be okay. Best practice (so your kefir doesn’t get so sour) is to remove the grains before you store the finished kefir in the fridge. With the grains in there, it will sour more quickly even in the fridge. I hope this helps!
- rebecca says
Thank you. This is good to know.
- Bethany says
I had no idea. I just threw out some raw soured cream 2 days ago because I assumed it was just bad. Next time I will use it!
- Jen says
I get excited when I have soured cream…. It’s the perfect excuse to make butter-pecan ice cream! I heat some milk and egg yolks until just thickened, mixed with chopped crispy pecans, then add the soured cream, salt, and a little stevia and freeze. The soured cream adds the butter flavor on it’s own, and the high amount of salt in this ice cream means it is soft right out of the freezer. Yum!
- Dawn says
Jen, I know this is an old comment but I would love to have this recipe that you mention above!
- DeDe says
That sounds soooo good, Jen!! What are the ratios? or recipe amounts? I’d love to make that tonight!!
Thanks,
- Anne-Marie Emanuelli says
so glad to read this information. I love this slightly sour “creme fraiche” that I accidentally “created” when we forgot to pick up our fresh milk and it sat 3 days in the cooler. It is beautiful and thick. I will try my hand at making a little butter with it but I don’t really know how. Do you have suggestions? Thank you.
- Peggy says
I am new to Raw Milk via GAPS Diet. I just tried to make sour cream after taking off the cream from my gallon of milk, I added a bit of yogurt to it. (which I am very successful at making) I left it on my counter in a clean mason jar for a day but it smelled really stinky. I put it in the refrigerator anyway and checked it in 4 days. It smelled really bad. I tasted………………….not too bad but the smell was not good. I disposed of that.
I tried again this week by taking the cream off the milk. I put the cream on my counter in a clean mason jar with the lid on loosely. I kept it on my counter for 2 days because I live in Michigan and it isn’t very warm here. It isn’t much different than it was in consistency today (just a little clumpy on the edges) but smells a little sour. I put it in the refrigerator. I have read a lot of recipes for making sour cream that suggest adding buttermilk but I didn’t have any buttermilk.
What do you think?- Wardee says
Peggy — That is natural soured cream, or clabbered cream. It is fine to do. 🙂 Whether you get a good flavor depends on how old the cream/milk is and other factors, but I’ve found that using fresh, fresh milk/cream makes the best clabber. And what you can do is hold back some of that for a starter for future batches — to ensure a good result the next time!
Here’s a video on the easiest sour cream ever — very similar to what you’ve done:
https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2011/07/26/free-video-easiest-sour-cream-ever/- Peggy says
Thank you for the idea! I will try it when I get more milk
- Sandy says
Hi Wardee,
What a great topic! I would be interested to see some photos of the different stages raw cream goes through, so I have some idea of what it looks like when it is still good to use. I gave some old cream to the dogs and cats as I was not sure if it was still fit for human consumption.
Thanks for the great post.
- Karen says
Thank you for this post – I was able to turn some slightly soured cream into some really yummy butter instead of throwing it out.
I have another question I can’t seem to find the answer to. I got some raw milk sour cream from my farmer and it was the most delicious stuff ever! But I’ve not eaten it as fast as I’d like and it’s now pretty soured smelling. So, I’m guess it doesn’t make butter because something else was done to it, or should I just try making it into butter too?
- Alexis says
Man good question I wish it was answered!
- Wardee says
Sorry I missed this question!
Actually soured cream that’s gone a little too far makes GREAT cultured butter. Here’s a post about it:
https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2010/07/cultured-butter/
- Suzy Q says
I love the idea of using my soured raw cream to make cultured butter…I’m just not so keen on the taste of naturally clabbered milk. Does the butter taste the same? Too many years of the store bought “buttermilk culture” in my taste bud history I guess. Here a while back, I had skimmed all the cream off of 3 gallons of milk and was planning on making butter…but I forgot…and it soured in the fridge. So I added more fresh cream to it and put it in the crockpot hoping to kill off the taste somewhat since I have not yet acquired that taste. When it cools I’ll add some cultured buttermilk to see if I can make a sort of “sour cream” with a taste we like a little better. Before we got our cow, I had been buying ultra pasteurized (yikes) cream from the store, warming it to 85 degrees and then adding cultured buttermilk and letting it sit on the counter overnight for about 12 hours. This gave me picture and (for our tastes) palate perfect sour cream. However I found out that the natural cultures in the raw cream inhibit the growth of the buttermilk culture so I couldn’t do this anymore with my raw cream. I’m hoping that I can somewhat duplicate the result using my crockpot to lightly pasterurize the cream. I know it’s not as great for us as the natural cultures in the milk, but it IS still cultured at least. Any ideas, suggestions, horrific outcrys? ;O
- Sigrid Aronsson says
Hello Wardeh, I have a question. I was by a farmer who had lots of raw cream left over and we made about 25 kilo of raw butter with it. We added a culture as told by a man who makes cheese, so it would not go bad, since we had only one kitchen machine to do it with, and it took hours for each batch. I washed it in a bit of water and added himalaya salt to it. It was quite messy but it tasted wondeful. Someone told us it would last for 3 weeks, but even before that it started to go sour, and now I have put 10 kilo in the freezer and the rest smells sour. I was told I can heat it and skim it and then use it. Can I use this sour butter for baking cakes with cinnamon, it might cover up the taste. Or is it bad now and need to be thrown out? Thanks in advance, Sigrid in Denmark.
- Dawn Heuker Sloterbeek via Facebook says
Baked potato soup
- Lindsey Snyder Griffiths via Facebook says
Cultured butter.
boil it and make clarified butter
- Laura Nixon Guild via Facebook says
Will be making your Sloppy Joes in a Bowl tomorrow night. Thanks!
Anything you could use fresh cream for in cooking. Gravy, white sauce, cream soup, in your mashed potatoes, pancakes, etc. It adds a wonderful flavor!
Eat (use) it! Yum!
- Prue Rosser via Facebook says
Cultured butter
- Katee Woodby via Facebook says
Mine tastes too grassy after it sits for any more than a week. Any tips to reduce that flavor?
i just add it to my cassarole dishes makes a creamyer flavor
- Laura Nixon Guild via Facebook says
Question about Sloppy Joes Bowl recipe. Do I drain the soaked rice before adding the stock? 🙁
I remember when raw cream got old I made sour cream chocolate cookies with it. It got really thick and yummy.
- Cheryl Ann Dwyer via Facebook says
cookies, pancakes, cakes…there’s a lot of recipes that call for milk that you can easily substitute this. Your cakes, even box mixes, will rise a bit higher & be very moist. Same thing with home made cookies.
There are a million uses I found a list of about 55 uses from googling uses for sour raw milk
- Mary Mack via Facebook says
Sour cream chocolate cake…I grew up on a farm and this is what mom made with sour cream..yum
eat it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
- Jana Jones Crawford via Facebook says
Sara Jones Crawford read comments too.
- Sigrid Aronsson says
According to a lady from Morocco, raw butter never goes bad and in Morocco they put sour butter on cous-cous. It is incredibly tasty, tastes a bit like cheese. That is the best cous-cous. And they cook chicken with it. I just gave her a jar of it.
I like to use it to make butter. It’s got a great flavor when the cream is sour
- Erin Cessac via Facebook says
I just made ranch dressing from mine and it’s out of this world!
This is stupid
Great idea Erin Cessac!
- Lisa Stewart via Facebook says
Raw milk that’s gone slightly off is okay to put in smoothies. Raw cream that’s soured can go in MASHED POTATOES. Now my mouth is watering.
Does raw sour milk ever go bad where you can’t use it?
- Ariel Adorno via Facebook says
Just wondering this as I have the same in my fridge!
- Ariel Adorno via Facebook says
Just wondering this as I have the same in my fridge!
I usually can keep my raw cream for about 3 weeks in the frig…after that it tastes way too sour to use. It’s not the same sour as when you purposely leave it out to sour when it’s still sweet. Unless someone else has a way of using it after it’s gone “bad”, I throw it. 🙁
I usually can keep my raw cream for about 3 weeks in the frig…after that it tastes way too sour to use. It’s not the same sour as when you purposely leave it out to sour when it’s still sweet. Unless someone else has a way of using it after it’s gone “bad”, I throw it. 🙁
We make cream lolly outa our soured cream…cupa sugar to a bottlea cream, stir constantly whilst boiln it (usually til goes brown – takes a while)…
We make cream lolly outa our soured cream…cupa sugar to a bottlea cream, stir constantly whilst boiln it (usually til goes brown – takes a while)…
- Lorinda Barnes via Facebook says
I add it to sauces like stroganoff in place of sour cream.
Yogurt or put it in a jar with a tight lid and shake it for 20 minutes or so and make butter. Doug – Life, Health and Wellness Coach and Author at Practicing PALEO https://www.facebook.com/pages/Practicing-PALEO/489427881094441?ref=hl
- Joy Muscato via Facebook says
following
- Jacque Dunn via Facebook says
When I was growing up you found sour cream butter in the grocery. Now all you find unless you are very luck is sweet cream butter.
- Sigrid Aronsson says
Of course. It is too healthy. They managed to Black PR unpasteurized milk which sour cream butter is made of and of course people bought it. So now it is almost impossible to find. You’d have to start your own farm; but they managed to make it very hard for farmers to make a living of growing healthy foods so that is almost impossible too unless it is just for the family. That is why so many people get sick with all kinds of weird diseases – people believing the media. They black PR everything decent.
Great for making scones! Use instead of butter 🙂
- Jennifer Neddo via Facebook says
You could make homemade donuts with it 🙂 my great gram always make sour milk ones, don’t see why soured cream wouldn’t work
- Kat says
We had a pint of raw cream sitting in the back of our fridge for more than 6 months. We opened the mason jar today and it smells nice. Mildly cheesy. It has separated with liquid on the lower half, and firmer cream on the upper half.
Is it basically a creme fraiche and is it safe to eat?
We were thinking of taking the firmer portion and using it like creme fraiche, as a spread on bread, etc. Liquid portion not sure what to do.
Sometimes dairy products both raw or not tend to smell and look fine way after their expiration date but I have been told it could give you an upset stomach.
- Renee says
Hi Wardee. I have a question concerning this topic. I get raw milk and cream from local dairy and this has happened to me s couple times now. I have had cream that was in fridge for a couple weeks and thought I’d make butter. Instead of the cream being thick, it was really thin and wouldn’t whip. I had it in the processor for s solid 10 min when any other time it would only take 2. Do you know why? Thank you.
- Natasha says
Hi Renee,
Most likely, that is the whey separating out. Even cream will have whey in it, and only the solids make butter. All that leftover thin, watery stuff makes buttermilk, if I remember correctly. There is actually a relatively small amount of solids in a jar of cream. Once the cream sits long enough to begin curdling or culturing, it will separate itself for you. You can then strain it through cheesecloth, and the solids that are left behind will be what you continue to process to make butter.
- Leroy churches says
Any one ever had raw soured heavy cream gravy put in in a frying pa cook on med high tell it separates and the little whey?gets dark almost black,stinks up the house but some water in and salt runnie but so good had it in northern Wisconsin in the fourties when I was young to hard to get raw cream now days
- Jennifer Linton says
I put my raw milk with the cream in a drink dispenser in the fridge, so I could skim the cream off easier. It got pushed to the back of the refrigerator and kids drank the milk in jugs first. Cream is now separated then there is what looks like the whey and then the milk. What can I do with the milk and the cream. Wish I could add a picture.
- Peyton says
Hi!
I have some raw goat milk from a friend! It’s been in a glass jar for almost a month, and it has separated into cream on top(an inch and a half thick) and the rest of the milk below. The cream taste sour/ very goat-y. What I can I do with this? Milk? Cheese?
Thank you!!
