Paleo AIP Sour Cream

Tangy, rich, dairy-free sour cream made without added thickeners using only non-histamine producing strains of gut healthy probiotics. Oh, and it's delicious!!!!

Check out the video tutorial on YouTube and subscribe for new AIP recipe, review & inspiration videos every Thursday!

You will need 2 ingredients:

1) Aroy D brand Coconut Cream

I find this brand at my local asian market. You can also buy it online at SHOPAIP.com or on Amazon.

(This particular recipe will not work with a different brand of coconut cream (I have tried). If you want to use another brand of coconut milk your best bet would probably be to find a different recipe that uses an added thickener or stabilizer.)

2) A Probiotic. I prefer to use non-histamine producing strains. I have had good luck using Klaire Labs Therbiotic Factor 4 but if you have a different probiotic already at home there's a decent chance it'll work if it has live active cultures in it. I've also successfully used other formulas by Klaire labs as well as Gut Pro to culture sour cream and yogurt.

It would also be helpful to have a thermometer on hand. Here's a nice little cheap one that will do the trick!

Directions:

Decide how much sour cream you'd like to make and pour that amount of coconut cream into a sauce pan, plus some extra to allow for liquid reduction. So if you want to make 2 cups of sour cream, use about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups of coconut cream.

Simmer the coconut cream over medium heat, whisking often for about 5 minutes, or until it is noticeably thicker and reduced in volume. I demonstrate this in the video tutorial.

Pour the thickened coconut cream into a mason jar and let cool to a temp of about 100 degrees.

It's best to use a thermometer, but if you don't have one you can use the finger test- if you can hold your finger in the liquid for a full minute it's cool enough to add the probiotic to.

I use 1 capsule, which contains 10 billion CFUs of probiotics per 8 oz of liquid. Adding more will not produce thicker or tangier yogurt so don't waste your probiotics! (I have tested this theory!)

Open the capsule and pour the contents into the cooled coconut cream and stir well.

Now it's time to incubate!

You can use a heating pad on high heat- just place the jar on the heating pad and place a few towels over it to hold in the heat. Check after 24 hours, if it's not tangy enough keep checking back every 8 hours. It usually takes about 24-36 hours with this method. Most any warm environment will do really, some people use sunny windowsills, an oven that's been turned on and off, etc.

OR, you can use an Instant Pot! Pour 1 cup of water into the inner insert, then place the rack into it. Put the jar of coconut cream on the rack and very loosely (don't screw on the lid) cover the top, just enough so that condensation doesn't fall in.

Place the lid on the instant Pot and hit the Yogurt button. Set it to 25 hours. (It doesn't matter if the pressure release valve is on or off for yogurt making.)

It'll probably only take about 20 hours, but this way if you get busy or forget it'll just keep right on culturing! After 20 hours do a taste test. If it's not tangy enough, come back in 5 hours and re-taste.

If your probiotics are not 100% viable from heat exposure or age it might take longer. I've noticed the GutPro makes faster yogurt than the Klaire Therbiotic Factor 4, but the GutPro is $100...I don't mind waiting a few extra hours, lol.

Next, just place the jar in the fridge for a few hours to cool and thicken.

Troubleshooting:

If your sour cream is not as thick as you'd like you may not have cooked it down long enough in the pot. To remedy this, store it in the fridge uncovered for 2-3 days. The liquid will slowly evaporate and make it thicker. By day 3 it'll be perfect! Next time just make sure to cook it down longer to remove more liquid before culturing.

Serving suggestion:

Whip up a batch of AIP tortillas, some AIP Queso sauce, AIP Salsa and Picadillo beef and have an I-can't-believe-it's-AIP party in your mouth! Ole!!!🤩

As seen on Phoenix Helix's Recipe Roundtable #279

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