The Schmear

[Jason Perlow]

This week, in breaking perhaps a 60 year tradition in my family, I decided to buy a container of Breakstone's Temp-Tee whipped instead of a block or tub of Philly for my bagels.

I like it, and I am ashamed. Its a lot easier to deal with than that annoying foil package, and it spreads a lot more evenly.

I note though that I think when it comes to mixing in toppings, such as scallions, chives, etc, that block Philly is probably better.

And am I crazy, or did Temp-Tee and Breakstone's used to be two different companies? Is Philly also owned by Kraft as well?

[Gifted Gourmet]

From a personal standpoint, I really prefer the Breakstone's whipped cream cheese because it just tastes better, creamier, and the saltiness is about what I like.

Mixing in: I have no qualms about mixing in my favorite items with a whipped cream cheese: chopped black olives, minced garlic, salt, plus a bit of butter, makes my favorite homemade olive spread ... if I am making this recipe for a party, I use my Mixmaster and do it with block cream cheese. Flavors are amazing and it gets rave reviews.

Wait! The two companies are now one??

[Jason Perlow]

It appears that Kraft owns Philadelphia as well. Since 1928 in fact. So really, Breakstone's is little more than a branding thing now, Philly and Temp-Tee are basically just ways of introducing the illusion of choice. Now that really pisses me off.

This is far more serious than AT&T or Microsoft, people. A cream cheese monopoly? This needs to be brought before congress.

[daniellewiley]

I can't stand temp tee.

My brother ate it all the time growing up, and, actually, that was the only cream cheese we had in the house.

I thought I didn't like cream cheese, but actually, I just didn't like temp tee.

It creeps me out.

[Gifted Gourmet]

brand name unimportant .. schmear away ... anyway whipped cream cheese is a bit too BDS&M for my personality ...

[Jason Perlow]

Here's an interesting page on the Kraft web site about the Philadelphia brand:

Brand Close-Up: Philadelphia

[Jason Perlow]

Breakstone's apparently did start out as an independent company, as Breakstone Brothers on the Lower East Side, in 1888. So it wasn't some name fabricated in some ad agency for Kraft as I feared. I'm curious as to -when- Kraft acquired the brand and decided that it made sense to have two brand names for cream cheese, though.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese started in 1880, and Breakstone Cream Cheese started in 1888. At some point, there was a merger.

Some more interesting stuff from FoodTimeLine.org

According to the records of the U.S. Patenet and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov) Kraft's Philadelphia Brand cream cheese was first used in commerce September 1, 1880 (registration #0392212). This product is said to have been "invented" by William A. Lawrence in upstate New York:

"Kraft company records place the invetnion of cream cheese in the hands of a New York Dairyman named William A. Lawrence, who first experimented with it and saw potential in the mixture he fashioned from milk and cream in 1872; he called the product Star Brand. The cream cheese became so popular that other dairies in the New York area began manufacturing a smimlar product. In 1880 a cheese distributor named C.D. Reynolds forged a deal with Lawrence for the latter to supply a steady flow of cream cheese. At the same time, Reynolds purchased another cream cheese production facility, the Empire Cheese Company of South Edmeston, New York. The name "Philadelphia" was adopted for the product because the Pennsylvania city was treasured as the seat of high-quality foods, particularly dairy products...In 1924 J.L. Kraft & Bros. Co., which had produced and provided processed cheese to the U.S. government armed forces in World War I, went public as Kraft Cheese Company and entered the cream cheese market. Four years later, Kraft merged with Phenix [Cheese Company], continuing the production of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese and introducing new products like Velveeta pasteriuzed process cheese spread...Compared to Camembert and other rich, soft cheese of Europe, Philadelphia Brand cream cheese was originally made in U.S. locations that could easily provide production plants with fresh milk and cream...Because of several patented adjustments to the production process in the mid-1940s, the life span of the cheese jumped from an original couple of weeks to about four months...Central to Kraft's success at positioning Philadelphia Brand cream cheese as one of the most recognizable products in the American marketplace was the company's unflappable committment to media saturation and advertising..."

---"Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese," Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Janice Jorgensen editor [st. James:Detroit] 1994 Volume1: Consumable Products (p. 452-453)

[NOTE: This book has much more information than can be

Star-Gazette [Elmira NY] article references William Lawrence of Chester, NY

"Cream cheese became available to everyone after Isaac and Joseph Breakstone of the Breakstone Company produced "Breakstone's Downsville Cream Cheese" (named after the New York Commuity where it was made) in 1920. It became immediately popular among Jewish communities in New York City as a spread for bagels."

---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 106)

Edited October 18, 2005 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

So now there is no Sam Breakstone? and No Easter Bunny? No Santa? No ToothFairy? Horrified to have to deal with so much reality!!

[Jason Perlow]

So now there is no Sam Breakstone?   and No Easter Bunny? No Santa? No ToothFairy?  Horrified to have to deal with so much reality!!

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No Sam. He's no more real than Mr. Whipple, apparently.

Although, a guy named Sam Breakstone may in fact have founded the company in 1882, but it was Isaac and Joseph that came up with the cream cheese. The question remains though, was Breakstone's cream cheese always whipped, or at some point, did Kraft decide that only Philly should be block and Temp-Tee be whipped, and the regular Breakstone cream cheese had to be sacrificed because there was too much overlap?

[Gifted Gourmet]

The only times I seriously deal with whipped cream cheese and its other alternate lifestyle companion, namely whipped butter, is on Passover .. because I hate it when my matzos break from schmearing the "real stuff!"

[Daniel Rogov]

At least to me, and certainly since the age of 15 "Philadelphia" is the name of a city in the United States (named of course after a far older Philadelphia); and the only association I make with "break stone" has something to do with huge sledge hammers and singers like Leadbelly doing chain-gang songs.

You want good cream cheese? No problem. Come to Israel, Turkey, Greece or Lebanon and try the cream cheeses made at artisinal dairies from the milk of free range goats and sheep. Now that is cream cheese.

[tsquare]

Grew up buying Philly blocks, except when we did a deli run, then we got a tub of whipped - no clue whose or if the deli did it themselves. Rarely eat it these days, but did buy some Nancy's - and like the cottage cheese, it has a bit of a bite. I like 'em both. Got used to alternates back in the late 70's when I was at a hippie college and we stayed away from the big ol' conglomerates as much as possible. Little did we know it would become fashionable to do so.

Nancy's link

(Good reading - and yes, that Kesey family.)

Edited October 18, 2005 by tsquare (log)

[popover]

I like temptee on bagels sometimes but if you are going to have lox I rather have it with the hard slab kraft, so it doesn't slide off and also it takes better with lox, and the tomato, and onion.

They are all one company? Like SOS and Brillo are the same Company.

[jbonne]

i intend to remain in firm denial about the Sam Breakstone thing.

I note though that I think when it comes to mixing in toppings, such as scallions, chives, etc, that block Philly is probably better.

no question. but the toppings/flavorings should be done with a food processor anyway, which is going to semi-whip the cheese.

Philly block+whipping = great schmear potential

whipped cheese+more whipping = mush

[Luckylies]

whipped cream cheese melts on my just toasted bagel. not okay. Can't have my nova without a proper plaform, really.

[DTBarton]

I guess I prefer regular block style cream cheese. I try to remember to take it out of the fridge when I get up so that by bagel time it schmears easier.

That said, my local bagel emporium's cream cheese seems to me to be half whipped and is a delicious product, full flavor and a little lighter and easier to spread.

[Malawry]

Dude. Did you see on the Philadelphia.au website that they have a Philadelphia cream cheese with SWEET CHILI SAUCE packed in a separate compartment in Australia? That's cool.

That has nothing to do with bagels, though.

[bavila]

I don't like buying whipped schmear because I'm opposed to paying for air. I try to stick with a little room-temp softening for spreadability.

Of course, don't ask me for consistency in my financial principles -- I regularly purchase bottled water for convenience.

[NancyH]

Temp-tee was de riguer in my house when I grew up in NY. Now that I live in Cleveland, it can be hard to find. Interestingly, because Kraft now owns Breakstone, there is also a whipped Kraft product - which I was just forced to try at Yom Kippur because I couldn't get any Tempt-tee. Look at the ingredients - they are a little different - and the taste and texture is definitely different. I want my Temp-Tee!!

Oh - and are there people who toast fresh bagels? Any cream cheese would melt!

[Pam R]

Oh - and are there people who toast fresh bagels?  Any cream cheese would melt!

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If a fresh bagel is good, it almost doen't need any cc on it. If a bagel is not good, or has been hanging around for a couple of days, it's better toasted. I like when the cream cheese melts.. starts oozing everywhere.

[scubadoo97]

The only times I seriously deal with whipped cream cheese and its other alternate lifestyle companion, namely whipped butter, is on Passover .. because I hate it when my matzos break from schmearing the "real stuff!" 

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GG, Passover was the only time we would buy the Temp-Tee. It was the kosher cream cheese of choice for our matzos. Cream cheese and sephardic haroset made from dates. Great combo.

[MarketStEl]

Nancy's link

(Good reading - and yes, that Kesey family.)

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Ken is...Chuck's brother?

[MarketStEl]

The question remains though, was Breakstone's cream cheese always whipped, or at some point, did Kraft decide that only Philly should be block and Temp-Tee be whipped, and the regular Breakstone cream cheese had to be sacrificed because there was too much overlap?

←

Can't say anything regards Breakstone's -- the cream cheese has never been sold in Philadelphia, only the cottage cheese, yogurt and butter.

But as for Philadelphia Brand: It has long come in both block and whipped versions. It's also available in a number of soft spreadable varieties, plain and flavored. I know this is sort of heresy, but I am quite fond of soft Philly salmon flavor.

To add another link to the chain, I will begin with this snippet from that Kraft web site:

But why did he call it Philadelphia? The name "Philadelphia Brand cream cheese" was adopted by Reynolds for the product because at that time, top-quality food products often originated in or were associated with the city, and were often referred to as being "Philadelphia quality."

One of those products was Breyers ice cream, first made in 1866 in Philadelphia by William Breyer. To this day, the regular variety is made without any additives or stabilizers--the ingredients are just milk, cream, sugar and flavorings.

In 1926, Breyers Ice Cream was acquired by the expanding National Dairy Products Company, incorporated three years earlier. NDPC acquired J.L. Kraft's cheese company in 1930. So for a while, there was a connection between the maker of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese and Philadelphia, where sister brand Breyers was manufactured from 1866 until 2001. (By that time, Kraft Holdings--NDPC's direct corporate successor--had sold Breyers to Anglo-Dutch food and household products giant Unilever. Breyers is now made at plants in Wisconsin and Framingham, Mass.)

As far as I know, no well-known brand of cream cheese has ever been made in Philadelphia.

[budrichard]

The best I can get today http://www.russanddaughters.com/pr_creamcheese.html .-Dick

[Jason Perlow]

I admit that the artisinal store brands like Ben's, Barney Greengrass, Fairway and Russ and Daughters are excellent. But they aren't the type of type of thing that I indulge in very often.