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I use Sour Cream in several recipes, is there a way to make it from scratch?

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YES! it is possible to make Sour Cream at home. I find that the taste isn't that much different than store bought, especially since sour cream is cheap; however, I suggest you start making Plain yogurt. The taste difference is immense – dassouki Aug 3 '10 at 14:37

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Sour cream is just cultured cream. You want to take fresh cream and then add the correct culture, then let it sit.

One way is to add a small amount of cultured buttermilk (with live cultures) to the cream. Put the mixture in a clean container and leave it in a warm place. In a day or two the cultures will have turned the cream "sour." and it's ready to use. At this point, you can use your fresh sour cream to start other sour creams as well.

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Presumably you could use storebought sour cream or yogurt for starter too, right? – Jefromi♦ Aug 4 '10 at 15:07
Yogurt would probably work, as would, of course, sour cream so long as the cultures are still alive. I'm not sure if they pasteurize those products after they have been cultured, in which case it wouldn't work. – kevins Aug 4 '10 at 15:22
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Cultured buttermilk + cream = creme fraiche, not sour cream. The two are related, but sour cream has a much more pronounced sour tang. You need the right culture to make the real sour cream, I am not sure whether it's available for home purchase (but feel that it must be, with all the local farmers and artisan cheese makers). I grew up with real sour cream, made from only cream + added bacteria, and it's a very different animal from what's sold in stores in the U.S. To start with, its fat content is 30-40% (because it's really just heavy cream) and the consistency is much more liquid than store bought, sort of like homemade yogurt, but a little runnier. My mother's old recipes all call for "pouring" sour cream over dishes and adding starch if the dish needs to be thicker.

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I'm pretty sure the OP and most people would be happy with something similar to the sour cream that's sold in stores in the US, even if there does exist something better. – Jefromi♦ Feb 12 at 3:52
How would you know what OP really meant? Amusing that the initial comment was an advice to start making yogurt "because the difference in taste is immense." Well, it's no less immense between homemade and store bought sour cream, but it seems so few people tried it, they wouldn't even know the difference. The texture of the U.S. commercial sour cream comes from carrageenan gum, which is neither here nor there (and I do like it well enough). However, those who go to the extra effort of making their own yogurt will probably find it useful to know what the real thing should look like. – dickens Feb 12 at 4:10
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The vast majority of people have only had storebought sour cream, and most people who are familiar enough with the kind you've had also already know how to make it. It's almost certain the OP is talking about typical storebought stuff, and essentially all other readers will be thinking of that too. I'm not saying the difference is small or anything, just that what you think is "real" sour cream is almost certainly not what the question was about, even though many would think it's much better. – Jefromi♦ Feb 12 at 4:15

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