Here we go with some vegan sour creams as I’ve been in that mode lately. These feelings come and go as I occasionally channel my 20-something self from the 1990s when I lived in Brisbane and engaged in post-nightclub late-night binges of CCs and sour cream courtesy of my friend Christine. My current corn chip of choice of course has no cheese, but I am somewhat addicted to Nature Delight’s Tasty Lime and Chilli chips which I wouldn’t even bother reviewing as I would just be carrying on about the generous coating of spices on every chip 😄😄😄
Now I know to non-vegans there is a feeling that the idea of vegan sour “cream” is an unholy concept given the expectation that this is wholly a dairy confection. As vegans know, dairy is scary (please have a quick read of my blog post on this topic for more info!). Despite the fact that most recipes can be successfully veganised these days, there are some standalone food items that are more challenging to replicate, particularly if you are someone who traditionally believes that there is only one way for things to taste. Sour cream is one of those things that poses a bit of a challenge to vegan food producers and we are here to test the current crop of options.
I haven’t had dairy sour cream for quite some time, but the recollection is to achieve a balance of creamy smoothness which is also pleasantly tart. Some early or hasty vegan brands used lemon for the tartness but it is a clumsy approach that creates an inferior result. These offerings employ different tactics to varying levels of success. Today we look at an old favourite as a bit of a baseline comparison with a couple of recent finds.
These reviews are particularly geared towards former omni eaters who are keen to have that meat or dairy favourite available as a tasty cruelty-free equivalent.
About the ratings system: Ratings are for what I consider the important elements of an appealing food product, with “Texture” being one that you might not normally see for other food reviews, but to me it is quite indicative of the success of a meat or dairy substitute. I choose “Value” over “Price” as vegan foods are generally more expensive than their meat or dairy counterparts (or rather, the latter are unreasonably and irrationally cheap given what they are) so I choose to focus on how good they are for the amount you pay.
On to today’s reviews:
** SOUR CREAM SHOWDOWN **
PRODUCT 1: TOFUTTI BETTER THAN SOUR CREAM
Type: non-dairy Sour cream
Country of origin: USA
tofutti.com
vs
PRODUCT 2: MADE WITH PLANTS
Type: non-dairy Sour cream
Country of origin: Australia
madewithplants.com.au
vs
PRODUCT 3: DIBBLE
Type: non-dairy Sour cream
Country of origin: Australia
dibblefoods.com.au
REVIEWS:
New to my world is the Dibble brand which is out of Melbourne. It is presumably a niche brand as I have only seen it at a Foodland here in Adelaide which I know specialises in a larger variety of vegan smallgoods. Having tried a few dodgy sour cream attempts, I am always wary of wasting my hard-earned $$ on a big fat disappointment, but Dibble thankfully came through with the goods! Their jar says “New improved recipe” and what I noticed with online reviews of their first version was that people had a problem with their faba bean ingredient giving an unpleasant texture (we’ll talk to you in a sec, Made With Plants). What they do very well in this incarnation is to ditch the faba bean and introduce pea protein and natural gum guar, the latter of which the Tofutti uses. While having a very different texture to the Tofutti, it has a firmer almost “whipped” texture which is quite appealing (though I suppose, not technically identical to dairy sour cream). Where Dibble really shines is coming up with an excellent balance between the tart and the creamy. I personally don’t like it too tart but I still do want it there.
The Made With Plants grew on me in the sense that it smells and has the tangy taste of a dairy-cultured cream which is possibly the most accurate of this group to its dairy counterpart. Whether that is what you want is another thing. I find it almost a bit too sour as if it is going off slightly. What I didn’t care for was the runny “thickened cream” texture nor the distinct faba bean “after-tongue”. Yes, I think I made up a word there. You’ll know if you try it: you have a bite, swallow and then are left with a weird “glaze” on your tongue which is not too pleasant in my opinion. I definitely think it’s the faba bean though it could be one of the thickeners.
The Tofutti is a very different beast. The texture is a clearly firmer than dairy sour cream or the others here, but if you stir it, it whips up into a super-smooth confection. Its versatility comes in that it is not too sour but enough so in a subtle and accurate way to be definitively sour cream so it can be blobbed on top of nachos, or stirred into a mushroom stroganoff or just anything needing a sort of neutral thick and creamy stir-in. On it’s own it is also very good, though you start tasting that it’s not quite the same as the dairy version; however, I don’t recall ever eating sour cream straight from the tub anyway.
The verdict is a close-call: I love the ease and versatility of the Tofutti, but the Dibble was an appealing balance of all sour cream attributes. It’s also cheaper than the Tofutti which is a US import, so definitely adds to the costs a bit due to that. Made With Plants sadly isn’t really a contender with the other two according to my palette, but it is quite sour if you like that sort of aspect of a sour cream. The tongue glaze knocked it down a notch for me though.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what your favourite sour cream is so I can check it out or review it. What do you love about it? Do you disagree with my assessments? Let’s fight! 🤣 No, I’d love to know as we all have different tastebuds 😁
I have seen Upton’s moustached men gracing their product boxes on grocery shelves for a couple of years now, but was only just made aware that this Chicago-based brand has been around since 2006. Their website shows off an impressive and mouthwatering array of products, many of which we still don’t get here in Australia (I’m looking at the seitan chorizo and mentally willing someone to distribute that here!) I did, however, note that this particular one that I am reviewing – the Massaman Curry – is a “Product of Thailand” so I’m afraid to ask if the ingredients are sourced in Thailand, shipped to America to prepare and then shipped to Australia for us, meaning there’s a whopping 25,000+ kms of fossil fuels attached to this item. Eeek!
Dairy cheese is a strange confection as it has a property which makes it congeal and go gooey, and for some reason we have found this to be appealing. I would be lying if I said that I am not attracted to this feature when it comes to pizza or lasagne or Mac n’ cheese, but it’s still a weird thing. So of course we want our dairy cheese substitute to have the same characteristics, but many vegan cheeses struggle to simulate this well.
Big Tiny Adventure 