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I recently bought a container of what was labeled "Canadian-style sour cream" at a produce market in the Bay Area. Being from Canada, I was curious to see what it was, since all the sour cream I've had in Canada was the same as the sour cream I've had in the US.

But when I opened the container, it sure seemed to be regular sour cream. So what's the difference?

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Community
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Kareen
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    Is that brand name in Cyrillic characters? So you bought a Russian brand of Canadian-style sour cream in California? I love the 21st century. – logophobe Dec 06 '14 at 22:40
  • @logophobe It looks like [the Russian just means "Canadian sour cream"](https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F%20%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0) and it says it's made with Californian milk so it's a Russian-Californian brand I guess? – Cascabel Dec 06 '14 at 23:02
  • Here in the Midatlantic US, the Russian stores usually carry "Amish," "Lithuanian," and "Homemade" styles in addition to "Russian." The biggest variant as best I can tell is fat content. – ESultanik Dec 07 '14 at 02:43
  • I'd guess it's a bit more trusting than American sour cream. – Preston Dec 14 '14 at 06:12

2 Answers2

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From this discussion it appears to be a way of differentiating it from Russian-style sour cream or smetana. Maybe it came about during the Cold War and it couldn't be sold as "American-Style" so they called it Canadian-Style... or maybe it's just a marketing ploy.

Didgeridrew
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I realize this question was asked a million years ago, but Canadian style sour cream refers to sour cream that has different texture from that of a standard american sour cream, as well as a bit different taste. Canadian style sour cream is usually creamier and if you were to remove some sour cream with a spoon from the tub, you don't have a definite indentation or a hole left from the spoon (like you would also see in a tub with greek yogurt), instead the sour cream just flows back in to fill the gap. Also, canadian style sour cream is sweeter than the American style sour cream.

In short, if you want Canadian Sour Cream but don't want to pay extra for it, just stir the american sour cream with a spoon until smooth, then keep adding enough heavy whipping cream and stirring after each addition until it's desired consistency. I do this all the time :)

Marina Shaylitsa
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