If you've always assumed that Philadelphia cream cheese was made in the City of Brotherly Love, you're certainly not alone. But unfortunately you are also wrong.
Which is undoubtedly the most popular brand in the worldcreamy spreaddoes not originate in Philadelphia, is not manufactured there, and has never been manufactured in the state of Pennsylvania.
Questions about the brand's name and origin story have been circulating for years. If Philadelphia cream cheese doesn't come from Philadelphia, why is it called that?
Food writerPriya Krishnarecently investigated the origins of this bookletEnjoy your food.It turns out that the brand, founded by a man named William Lawrence, has done its jobcream cheeseiNew Yorksince 1872.
Lawrence, a dairy farmer from Chester, New York, was trying to make Neufchâtel—a tart, crumbly cheese product popular in Europe at the time—when he accidentally added a little too much cream, creating a richer, more spreadable cheese. spokesperson told TODAY Food. But Lawrence wouldn't start selling his cream cheese under the name "Philadelphia" for a few years.
In 1880 he joined A.L. Reynolds (a major cheese distributor in the state) to sell larger quantities of cream cheese. At the time, Pennsylvania had a reputation for high-quality dairy and creamier cheese products, so they decided to put the name "Philadelphia" on the foil-wrapped blocks of cream cheese.
“Reynolds wanted people to know that the cheese was high quality and that Philadelphia was associated with high quality dairy products at the time,” Blythe Jeckel, senior band manager at Philadelphia, confirmed to TODAY.
Over the years the company went through a number of changes and Reynolds eventually sold the trademarked name Philadelphia to the Phenix Cheese Company. Philadelphia truly became a household name in 1928 when Phenix merged with wholesale cheese delivery company Kraft to form the Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.
Nathan Congleton / ME TODAY
Today, Philadelphia is beloved by chefs and home cooks alike as a reliable base for a variety of desserts, dips and sauces. The "star ingredients," according to Jackel, are milk and cream from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin and Lowville, New York... and not Pennsylvania dairy farms.
Today's Philadelphia cream cheese has a much longer shelf life than earlier versions, and the modern recipe includes salt, plus the thickeners and stabilizers xanthum gum, guar gum and locust bean gum.
From its factory in Upstate New York, the brand also makes dozens of flavor products, including spreads, dips and ready-to-eat desserts.
Philadelphia cream cheese is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2020, so it seems only fitting that the brand's true origin story is brought to light today.
Chrissy Callahan covers a variety of topics for TODAY.com, including fashion, beauty, pop culture and food. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, watching bad reality TV, and consuming copious amounts of cake batter.
