sour cream...smells fine, no mold...but expired june 06...it's ok?

Question

thanks! you guys rock!

Answer 1

Yes, it's fine. Sour cream is one of those things that is very obvious about it when it goes bad. You know, of course, that the expiration dates are chosen with a lot of slack in them. Your nose knows, most of the time; and certainly in the case of sour cream.

Answer 2

I read this on "The Straight Dope" website:

Dear Cecil:

Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? --Al Malmberg, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Cecil replies:

Al, you nut! I mean, just spelling it out for the benefit of the slow, it's already sour, right? Unfortunately, as often happens, I'm obliged to spoil your little joke with the facts. Probably you have the idea that they make sour cream by taking ordinary cream and letting it sit out on the window sill for a couple hours. By and by somebody gets a whiff, goes, "Yo, that's sour! Ship it!" and two days later you're spreading it on a blintz.

But that's not how it works. (Surely you suspected this.) It's true they start with light cream or the equivalent. Having pasteurized it, which kills most of the microorganisms that make raw milk go sour, they then dump in a special bacterial culture that produces lactic acid. If I know my bacteria--and I did stand in line once to get tickets for a Kiss concert--they produce the lactic acid by excreting it, which you then pay to eat. Chilling the sour cream after the bacteria have had 12-16 hours to do their thing halts the "ripening" (i.e., souring) process, resulting in a product that is merely tangy rather than completely rank.

But bacterial action doesn't totally stop, and if the sour cream sits around long enough it will eventually become so sour (or moldy) that it's inedible. The same will happen to virtually any dairy product, since some sour-inducing microorganisms invariably survive pasteurization. Thus the expiration dates. We may think of sour cream, therefore, as occupying the bracingly tart if narrow interval separating the hopelessly bland from the unspeakably vile--pretty much what we at the Straight Dope aspire to do vis-à-vis Barney the Dinosaur and Howard Stern.

Answer 3

I've kept them even when a little green mold appears, just like cheese. I just pour off the excess water and scrape off the bad stuff and so long as I'm cooking it in a recipe I figured it won't kill me. But there definitely is an expiration and the nose, as stated earlier, will tell you when to toss.
I'm living proof that you can eat sour cream past the due date...Ugh ugh ohh! (hits the floor flopping)

Answer 4

properly, the micro organism in it have likely develop right into a complicated civilization by now. they're likely entering into their area Age -- use a magnifying glass and observe if there are tiny rocket ships flying round. :-) heavily, throw the stuff out -- more desirable probability-free than very, very sorry.

Answer 5

yeah, it's fine, not to gross you out, but that's what sour cream really is "soured cream" Hope I didn't ruin it for ya!

Answer 6

taste a little of it.....no just throw it away SOUR cream like SOUR

Answer 7

Yes but you may try a teaspoon on a baked potato 1st, but i'm almost sure you'll find it okay

Answer 8

its good, go for it...the expiration date is surely padded to avoid problems.....its probably good for another few months after that

Answer 9

It should be just fine.

Answer 10

it should be alright. rely on your taste buds.