Patent ID: 7655267

Claim:
A wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product comprising of about 3 to about 15 percent dairy protein, about 4 to about 35 percent fat, about 0.01 to about 1 percent gum, and about 40 to about 80 percent water, wherein the gum is added in a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion consists of an ionic gum at about 0.001 to about 0.1 percent which is added prior to culturing or acidification of the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product, wherein the second portion of the gum is a stabilizer added after the culturing or acidification of the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product, wherein the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product has a firmness of greater than about 2390 pascals, wherein the firmness is greater than the firmness of the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product with the first portion of the gum not added prior to culturing or acidification and the firmness is up to about 50 percent greater than the firmness of the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product with the first portion of the gum not added prior to culturing or acidification; and wherein the first portion consisting of the ionic gum forms a complex with the dairy protein prior to culturing or acidification through an ionic interaction between a negative charge of the first portion of the ionic gum and a positive charge of the protein; and wherein the wheyless cream cheese or wheyless cream cheese-like product exhibits a syneresis of about 1.35 percent or less.