Cream cheese

Cream cheeseis a soft, usually mild-tastingfresh cheesemade from milk andcream.Cream cheese is not naturally matured and is meant to be consumed fresh, so it differs from other soft cheeses such asBrieandNeufchâtel. It is more comparable in taste, texture, and production methods toBoursinandmascarpone. Stabilizers such ascarob bean gumandcarrageenanare often added in industrial production.
The U.S.Food and Drug Administrationdefines cream cheese as containing at least 33%milk fatwith a moisture content of not more than 55%, and apHrange of 4.4 to 4.9.Similarly, under Canadian Food and Drug Regulations, cream cheese must contain at least 30% milk fat and a maximum of 55% moisture.In other countries, it is defined differently and may need a considerably higher fat content.
Cream cheese originated in the United States in the 1870s.
Around 1873, William A. Lawrence, a dairyman inChester, New York, was the first to mass produce an unripened fresh cheese known generically as cream cheese. In 1872, he began manufacturing Neufchâtel cheese. By adding cream to the process, he developed a richer cheese that he called "cream cheese".In 1877, Lawrence created the first brand of cream cheese; its logo was a silhouette of a cow followed by the words "Neufchatel & Cream Cheese".
In 1879, to build a larger factory, Lawrence entered into an arrangement with Samuel S. Durland, another Chester merchant.In 1880, Alvah Reynolds, a New York cheese distributor, began to sell the cheese of Lawrence & Durland and called it "Philadelphia Cream Cheese".Histories that imply the cheese was produced inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, orPhiladelphia, New York, are incorrect.By the end of 1880, faced with increasing demand for his Philadelphia-brand cheese, Reynolds turned to Charles Green, a second Chester dairyman, who by 1880 had been manufacturing cream cheese as well. Some of Green's cheese was also sold under the Philadelphia label.
In 1892, Reynolds bought the Empire Cheese Co. ofSouth Edmeston, New York, to produce cheese under his "Philadelphia" label. When the Empire factory burned down in 1900, he asked the newly formed Phenix Cheese Company to produce his cheese, instead. In 1903, Reynolds sold rights to the "Philadelphia" brand name to the Phenix Cheese Company, which was under the direction of Jason F. Whitney, Sr. (which later merged withKraft, in 1928).By the early 1880s, Star cream cheese had emerged as Lawrence & Durland's brand, and Green made World and Globe brands of the cheese. At the turn of the 20th century, New York dairymen were producing cream cheese sold under such other brands as Triple Cream (C. Percival), Eagle (F.X. Baumert), Empire (Phenix Cheese Co.), Mohican (International Cheese Co.), Monroe Cheese Co. (Gross & Hoffman), and Nabob (F.H. Legget).
Cream cheese is common in theAshkenazi Jewish cuisine of New York City, where it is  known as a "schmear". It is the basis of thebagel and cream cheese, anopen-faced sandwich.Lox,capers, and other ingredients may be added to this food.
Industrial cream cheeses, such as thePhiladelphiabrand, are the most commonly found varieties, but traditional fresh cream cheeses not containing stabilizers or preservatives maintain a presence in the Canadian market.
Normally,proteinmolecules in milk have a negativesurface charge, which keeps milk in a liquid state; the molecules act assurfactants, formingmicellesaround the particles of fat and keeping them inemulsion.Lactic acid bacteriaare added topasteurizedand homogenized milk. During thefermentationaround 22 °C (72 °F),thepHof the blend decreases (acidifies). Amino acids at the surface of the proteins begin losing charge and become neutral, turning the fat micelles fromhydrophilictohydrophobicstate and causing the liquid tocoagulate. If the bacteria are left in the milk too long, the pH lowers further, the micelles attain a positive charge, and the mixture returns to liquid form. The key, then, is to kill the bacteria by heating the mixture to 52–63 °C (126–145 °F)at the moment the cheese is at theisoelectric point, meaning the state at which half the ionizable surface amino acids of the proteins are positively charged and half are negative.
Inaccurate timing of the heating can produce inferior or unsalable cheese due to variations in flavor and texture. Cream cheese has a higher fat content than other cheeses, and fat repels water, which tends to separate from the cheese; this can be avoided in commercial production by addingstabilizerssuch asguarorcarob gumsto prolong itsshelf life.
In Canada, the regulations for cream cheese stipulate that it be made by coagulating cream with the help of bacteria, forming acurd, which is then formed into a mass after removing thewhey. Some of its ingredients include cream (to adjust milk fat content), salt, nitrogen (to improve spreadability) and severalgelling, thickening, stabilizing, andemulsifyingingredients such asxanthan gumor gelatin, to a maximum of 0.5%. Regulations on preservatives used are that eithersorbic acidorpropionic acidmay be used independently or combined, but only to a maximum of 3,000 parts per million when used together. The only acceptable enzymes that can be used in manufacturing of cream cheese to be sold in Canada arechymosin A and B,pepsin, andrennet.
In Spain and Mexico, cream cheese is sometimes called by thegeneric namequeso filadelfia, following the marketing of Philadelphia-branded cream cheese by Kraft Foods.
Cream cheese is easy to make at home,and many methods and recipes are used. Consistent, reliable, commercial manufacture is more difficult.
American cream cheese tends to have lower fat content than elsewhere, but "Philadelphia" branded cheese is suggested as a substitute forpetit suissebyJulia Child.