American recipe: In the US, 'cream cheese' is the same as cheese of the Philadelphia type?|Mumnet (2024)

FAQs

Is cream cheese and Philadelphia the same thing? ›

Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a brand of cream cheese. It is one of the best selling brands of cream cheese worldwide, first produced in 1872 and currently owned by Kraft Heinz and Mondelez International.

True cream cheese is half cream and half milk which european style remains. American cream cheeses have gone with 1/4 cream and the rest milk.

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE

Philadelphia, a Kraft Foods Group brand, is America's number-one selling cream cheese. Originally created 140 years ago in New York by dairyman William Lawrence, the brand was named Philadelphia as the city at the time was synonymous with high quality, as was the product.

But, don't be fooled by the Philadelphia brand. This isn't a flavored cream cheese. Several panelists describe it as having the consistency of thick sour cream. "It's more like a flavored ricotta," said homemaker Susan Drain.

American cream cheese tends to have lower fat content than elsewhere, but "Philadelphia" branded cheese is suggested as a substitute for petit suisse by Julia Child.

Cream cheese is essentially neufchatel cheese with additional cream. It is slightly softer than neufchatel and spreads easily, especially if whipped. It was, supposedly, invented by accident when an American cheese maker added too much cream to a batch of neufchatel.

Muenster Cheese

Muenster cheese boasts a mild, slightly tangy flavor and a smooth texture. Made from cow's milk, muenster cheese may be the best choice as an American cheese substitute because the taste and textures are so similar. It's a great option when you have your heart set on American cheese melts.

The UK cream cheese is more of a spread, definitely seems much more processed, different texture, and different — though similar — taste.

In the UK cream cheese traditionally has a higher fat content (of 45-65%) than the US-style Philadelphia cream cheese and consequently in the UK this ingredient is often labelled as "soft white cheese".

Today's Philadelphia cream cheese has a much longer shelf life than previous iterations and the modern recipe includes salt, plus the thickening and stabilizing agents xanthum gum, guar gum and carob bean gum.

What makes Philadelphia cream cheese different? ›

The major difference being that Philadelphiais made using extensive use of thickeners, whereas originally cream cheese was made thicker by slowly discarding the whey with cloths, in a way similar as it is done for Greek yogurt, just to say.

While the classic plain bricks are still a top seller, the Philadelphia Cream Cheese brand now includes a wide variety of exciting options. Each year local residents and visitors gather to celebrate Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Lowville, New York, where it originated and is still produced to this day.

Philadelphia cream cheese is a popular brand of cream cheese that is often used in cheesecake recipes, but there are many other brands of cream cheese that can be used as well.

Made with milk and real cream, Philadelphia Original's distinct fresh and creamy taste makes it a delicious soft cheese for the whole family to enjoy. Philadelphia is fantastically versatile, whether you are using it to bake an indulgent cheesecake, spread in a lunchtime sandwich, or have in a pasta carbonara.

I tend to stick to using Philadelphia full fat original cream cheese, because I find it works best. The cream cheeses in Aldi and Lidl are also good.. but for example, other supermarket own cream cheeses have a lot more water just floating on the top.

Stateside, Philadelphia is about 36 per cent fat: the legal minimum fat for cream cheese there is 33 per cent. Over here, tubs of 'soft cheese' are generally 19-26 per cent fat – with Philadelphia coming in at 21 per cent. This doesn't much matter if you are spreading it in a sandwich, as long as you like the texture.

Some work better as a spread or in a dip, and others perform best in baked goods. Ten tried-and-true cream cheese swaps are thick strained yogurt, sour cream, Neufchâtel cheese, vegan cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, cottage cheese, fresh goat cheese, butter, and silken tofu.