I hadn't set foot in a store for two months. While my family wasn’t exactly starving, we were starting to miss some of our pantry staples, like sour cream. Last week, my wife was so desperate for it that she was seriously considering braving a crowded grocery store just to get her hands on some. I knew I had to act fast. I immediately turned to Amazon, hoping to find something like sour cream powder.
I stumbled upon Hoosier Hill Farm Sour Cream Powder almost instantly. There were plenty of other sour cream seasoning powders listed, but this was the only one that promised to deliver the real thing. It had just a few ingredients: sour cream powder (made from cream, cultures, and lactic acid), cultured nonfat milk solids, and citric acid. No added hormones, it claimed. I decided to take the plunge and bought it for $13.85. A week later, the package arrived at my doorstep, and I carefully disinfected it before opening.
Why would anyone buy powdered sour cream? Sour cream isn’t essential like water, but it’s a kitchen staple that adds a certain je ne sais quoi to dishes like baked potatoes and chili. It’s also a common ingredient in countless recipes. However, during the pandemic, getting fresh sour cream has become tricky because it’s a perishable dairy product. Powdered sour cream, which you can order online, shipped to your door, and mix with water at home, seemed like a practical alternative.
The mixing instructions were straightforward enough. According to the product description, you’re supposed to mix three parts water with five parts sour cream powder. Hoosier Farms suggested that this powder could replace regular sour cream in any recipe you could think of—whether it’s dips, sauces, potatoes, cakes, muffins, spreads, or casseroles. Sounds simple, right?
My wife’s first attempt was less than successful. She mixed three parts water with five parts of the powder, and what came out was more like baby powder dissolved in creek water—watery and chalky. I grabbed another bowl and followed the instructions again, carefully measuring out three parts water to five parts powder. I stirred it vigorously, just like she did, but the result was the same—chalky water. Frustrated but determined, I kept adding more and more powder, hoping to achieve something resembling sour cream.
As I continued to dump scoop after scoop of the stuff into the bowl, I couldn’t help but comment on the smell—it reminded me of a bucket of drywall spackle. One Amazon reviewer described it as smelling like glue or something equally unpleasant. I was prepared for this, but I was still determined to push forward.
After several scoops and a thorough whisking session, I finally achieved a consistency that looked somewhat like sour cream. My spirits lifted—I thought I had managed to turn this chalky powder into something edible. I took a cautious bite.
Nope. The powdered version tasted absolutely nothing like sour cream. Imagine the worst combination of vomit, sourness, and bitterness—all rolled into one. Worse still was the texture. Despite using a stick blender and a whisk, the mixture remained gritty, despite its smooth appearance. For quality assurance, I tried another batch.
It turns out the key to achieving a decent texture lies in ignoring the package instructions. When I mixed the powder with water in a 1:1 ratio, the texture improved significantly. This produced a cream that was almost—but not quite—like store-bought sour cream. Unfortunately, the taste was so revolting that it rendered the effort futile.
Troubleshooting the Taste of Hoosier Hill’s Sour Cream
One Amazon reviewer described the taste as “like chalkboard dust mixed with pet dander, finishing with an indescribably chemical aftertaste.†I completely agreed with that assessment. I racked my brain trying to figure out what went wrong. This powdered sour cream has four out of five stars on Amazon, and most reviews are positive. Could it be user error? Or had it somehow spoiled, even though it was well within its expiration date?
Amazon reviewer B. Anna suggested not using water at all, but she didn’t specify what else to use. Milk? Goat blood? Motor oil? Another reviewer recommended mixing it with yogurt, but I wasn’t about to ruin perfectly good yogurt just to test this powder.
Final Verdict: Hoosier Hill’s Sour Cream Powder Isn’t Worth It
In the end, I decided not to waste any more time trying to salvage this particular mess. I don’t think there’s anything that could counteract the near-indescribable awfulness of the flavor, let alone improve the texture.
As for whether it was user error or a bad batch: if I could mess it up this badly or if there’s a higher-than-average chance of a semi-nonperishable product spoiling before it reaches my door, there’s no way I can recommend this product.
Zero stars. To paraphrase Monty Python, this is a tin with a message inside, and the message is: Beware, this is not a powder for eating—it’s a powder for avoiding.
The good news is that making your own sour cream at home is relatively easy, at least in theory. All you need is some raw milk, cream, and either white vinegar or lemon juice. We get our raw milk from a local microfarm, so we avoid the risks associated with shopping. My wife attempted to make her own batch and gave it time to set. Unfortunately, all we ended up with was lemon-flavored milk.
If you'd like to try making your own sour cream and hope for better results, here's a video showing the process.
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Making your own sour cream might seem like a good idea, but sometimes, it’s just not worth the hassle.
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