Philadelphia cream cheese

Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting fresh cheese with a high fat content. Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are added Philadelphia is the best-known cream cheese brand as it is marketed very widely across the world.

The US Food and Drug Administration defines cream cheese as containing at least 33% milk fat with a moisture content of not more than 55%, and a pH range of 4.4 to 4.9. It is usually made by mixing low fat milk and cream with an acid, to cause coagulation, and then heating this mixture to stop the process.

The brand dates back to the late 1800s, when Pennsylvania dairies became known for their soft, creamy cheese made with whole milk. Around 1873, William A. Lawrence, a Chester, NY, dairyman, was the first to mass-produce cream cheese. In 1873 he purchased a Neufchatel factory and shortly thereafter, by adding cream to the process, was able to create a richer cheese, that he called “cream cheese”.

In 1879, in order to create a larger factory, Lawrence partnered with a Chester merchant, Samuel S Durland. In 1880, Alvah L Reynolds, a New York cheese distributor, began to sell the cheese of Lawrence & Durland and created a brand name for it: Philadelphia Cream Cheese. When the company merged with Kraft Foods in 1928 and developed a pasteurized version of the product, Philadelphia cream cheese became a household name.

Philadelphia is made with fresh milk from farms where the welfare of animals is a priority. They firmly believe giving dairy cows a better quality of life, with access to pasture grazing and higher welfare conditions, produces better quality milk – and tastier cream cheese for its iconic brand.

Ingredients in Philadelphia Cream Cheese include: Pasteurized Milk and Cream, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, Natamycin (a Natural Mold Inhibitor), Vitamin A Palmitate, Cheese Culture.

Cream cheese is often spread on bread, bagels, crackers, etc., and used as a dip for potato chips and similar snack items, and in salads. It can be mixed with other ingredients to make spreads, such as yogurt-cream spread (1.25 parts cream cheese, 1 part yogurt, whipped).
Philadelphia cream cheese