Is Philadelphia cream cheese worth it?

[JollyPearlShaker]

Be honest, mums - is Philadelphia cream cheese actually worth the extra money? I keep going back and forth! Trying to decide if it's a worthwhile treat or just clever marketing

Not now. They changed the recipe and it's watery AF now. The own branded ones are always better and half the price .The best one is Waitrose organic but it's more than two quid.

Absolutely not - definitely just marketing. As others have said, it’s actually lower quality than most supermarket own brands as it has stabiliser and citric acid added. Sainsbury’s version is just cheese and is half the price. Why pay more and get a UPF when you could pay less for a healthier version…

Is it just me that makes their own cream cheese when needed? I started during lockdown but I'd never go back to shop-bought now. It's really quick and easy, I'm no lentil-weaver or uber=housewife type.

The only 'specialist' equipment I bought was a load of cheesecloth to strain it through but genuinely a clean old muslin does the job too.

I've made my own, I posted how upthread. You can use kitchen roll if you don't have cheesecloth.

Btw I use citric acid to make mine - aka lemon juice. You need acid to make it so it's really not the crazy UPF ingredient that it seems.

Oh fab! Sorry totally missed your post, so you did. Love the kitchen roll tip.

Philadelphia is slimy. M&S is nice and more like the proper cream cheese you used to get from deli counters.

It's been a while since I've made any. I think I just used salt in a thick yoghurt but lemon juice/citric acid would definitely give a nice tang. I suppose it's like making your own buttermilk dupe then straining it?

Ah, you make labneh! That's delicious and very similar to cream cheese in flavour but slightly different ingredients. Also significantly healthier! Cream cheese is milk, thick cream, salt and some sort of acid to create curds.

I can't stand the stuff. It tastes artificial and is too "whipped" which is just the wrong texture for proper cream cheese. Real cream cheese should have a sharpness to it (like soured cream) and it should be crumbly. Unfortunately it has dominated the bloody market through saturation advertising. Years ago there was a much better selection of real cream cheese. You could even buy it on the deli counter of good supermarkets. Like other posters, I buy Paysan Breton.

I have asda full fat cream cheese and it's just soft cheese (ie only ingredient milk). I think it tastes lovely, it doesn't have that very very smooth quality that Philadelphia has but I'd rather eat something without the extras in. And bonus is probably about 1/2 the price!

Industrial citric acid is not lemon juice.

Please no one think citric acid is a substitute for lemon juice.

Have tried that but wasn't very successful unfortunately thanks. Seems they only do it in Canada.

ALDIs is much nicer.

Ah, thank you. Yes I am. I should make it again, it's lovely.

This!

No there are brands out there that are much nicer

Op not been back???

This thread tells me I ought to be adventurous and try a store brand. I used to buy one that was a log coated in black pepper, it was really good. I bought my dil some locally produced cream cheese from a Mennonite farm and she said it was sour and grainy so that scared me off of new brands. But I am going to add the peppercorn cheese to my shopping list. I don't know why I switched.

This is the same recipe that I downloaded a few days ago. I haven’t tried it yet. I am looking forward to making it. Is this the recipe you follow when you make cream cheese? It doesn’t mention cream in the ingredients. Is that your modification? If so how much cream and do you use less milk when you add cream?

please note that quoting your post has somehow not included your link to the recipe. So I’ll add the link in case others are interested in the recipe and don’t want to scroll back to find it.

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/how-to-make-cream-cheese/

Yes for cheesecake and cream cheese frosting.

I don’t understand why anyone would buy processed cream cheese when Ricotta and Marscapone is available.

Asda superstore, they no longer have it in the smaller Asda or either of the Tesco near me.

Went shopping, bought a plain for me and a herb garlic for ds. I did not see any other brands except the bricks of store brand.