gagger, you could be right. I plan to spoon as much of the salt that I can off. It's mostly very crusty and easy to see! I have tasted the liquid at the edges, and it's YES! VERY SALTY! Underneath, there is no salt, so I'm hoping it will equal out. I will definitely update this thread when it happens, but it sure is fun to watch the ferment. I'm thinking 2 or 3 weeks, and then hit it with vinegar and bottle. If it is too salty, lucky me, I've got a bunch of frozen jalapenos in the freezer, so I may have to ferment those without salt, and add them to the salty batch. I could probably kick up the ferment with a little sugar and some wine yeast. Tobasco ferments in oak for 3 years! I don't think I could do that! Waaay too long. I even have an oak barrel, but that is for wine! Most of the joy of doing this is anticipating the flavors that happen, and sharing it with family and friends, with them knowing they can't BUY this stuff! They have to come for a visit to get a taste!! My family likes heat! We are California natives, and have lived close to Mexico forever, so we do like it Spicy HOT!! tracydr, So you added vinegar after 10 days, right? Good luck with your canning! I prefer freezing, fermenting, brining, stuff like that. I fear the lid of the pressure cooker flying off and hitting me! LOL!! Nice to see you post, so i know the garlic in your ferment did not kill you! The sour dough starter gave me a lot of comfort with fermenting. half flour/half water, the bubbles come, and over the years, it just gets better! I don't have a dog or a cat or a fish. Just my Yeasties! And I only have to feed them now and then! Suzi

This is information from The Cook's Thesaurus (link below): Substitutes for one cup sour cream: Blend one cup cottage cheese plus two or three tablespoons milk or buttermilk plus two tablespoons lemon juice OR blend equal parts cottage cheese and plain yogurt OR blend one cup cottage cheese plus one-third of a cup buttermilk plus one tablespoon lemon juice. (Adapted from directions in the Joy of Cooking by Marion Rombauer Becker and Irma Rombauer. See my sources.) OR blend one cup cottage cheese plus two tablespoons lemon juice plus two tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise plus one-fourth cup nonfat buttermilk (adapted from a recipe in the New Laurel's Kitchen Cookbook) OR Combine 7/8 cup buttermilk or yogurt plus three tablespoons butter or margarine (From a Gateway Virginia recipe. See my sources.) OR one cup buttermilk OR one cup well-drained yogurt (if making cheesecake, use whole milk yogurt) OR one cup sour milk OR let stand for 5 minutes: one cup evaporated milk plus one tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar OR jocoque OR smetana (lower calories) I would caution when cooking with yogurt \- it will separate if allowed to boil. Separating doesn't affect the flavor, just looks, and it can be prevented by using flour, cornstarch or arrowroot in sauces. Yogurt (or kefir) can be substituted for sour cream in nearly any recipe, in my experience. I use homemade kefir (drained at least 30\-minutes) all the time as a substitute for sour cream. \-Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: [Cook's Thesaurus \- cultured milk](http://www.foodsubs.com/Cultmilk.html)

If you take sour cream and put it in a cheesecloth and let most of the water leak out, you essentially have cream cheese. Except that yours doesn't have starch, guar gum, or any of the other stabilizers/additives. So that's a great way to do it. Or you can use yogurt and do the same thing. Whatever you don't use, you can form into little balls and submerge in olive oil with some herbs.

Don't confuse FAT FREE sour cream with "Light" or "Lite" sour cream which is slightly less fat than whole sour cream and works fine for baking. It's ok for sauces too, but since in a sauce it is a flavor carrier, low fat sour cream makes a somewhat bland sauce. I use "lite" sour cream exclusively in dips, etc. Now, for baking, I often sub NON FAT (that's zero fat) yogurt when sour cream is called for. I have never had a problem. In fact, in baking I interchange buttermilk, lite sour cream and non fat plain yogurt. I realize there may be subtle differences but I have not noticed them much. Lower fat baked good have one issue though, they do not keep as long as the fuller fat ones. They dry out faster.