To many of us, bagels couldn’t exist without cream cheese. Bagels and cream cheese are as inseparable as peanut butter and jelly! Don’t take our classic American cream cheese for granted, though—It’s a many-flavored spread that’s certainly worth a closer look.

What is cream cheese? 

Cream cheese is classified as a soft, fresh cheese. The FDA defines it as a non-matured cheese containing at least 33% fat and less than 55% percent water.” Although at its conception it was an offshoot of Neufchâtel cheese, the inclusion of cream in its production put it in its own category. Because of the high fat content, stabilizers are often added to keep everything mixed. Texture-wise, it is perhaps more similar to mascarpone: smooth and spreadable. This cheese was first created in the 1820’s, and was first packaged in 1877 by William A. Lawrence. and has since exploded in popularity in the U.S.A., topping crackers and bagels and bringing some serious decadence in the form of frosting and—you guessed it—cheesecake.

What flavor of cream cheese is right for me? 

Plain, chive, strawberry, blueberry… the possibilities are endless! It all boils down to what flavor combination you’re aiming for. For example, chive, onion, or scallion cream cheese is unbeatable on a lox bagel sandwich. Fruit-flavored cream cheeses are the obvious choice when you’re looking for something super sweet… But they also shine when put into a sweet-and-salty context (on a fresh-baked everything bagel, for instance!) And what about “whipped” cream cheese?! It is not, in fact, made from whipped cream. Instead, it refers to the process of whipping the already-formed cheese with salt and water until it is light and airy. This is a great choice when paired with delicate ingredients that benefit from a less rich base, or simply spread across a bagel for a light breakfast.

Did you know

Fun fact: in the world outside of the USA, cream cheese as we know it is simply known as “philadelphia” or “filadelfia,” after the most popular brand of the stuff, Kraft’s Philadelphia. However, although the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area was the dairy heartland where this cheese was supposedly widely consumed back in the day, the Philadelphia brand was actually straight outta New York, New York! Go figure.