Barry Popik wrote:

> ... In 1872, cream cheese was invented by American dairymen,
> who were trying to
> recreate the French cheese, Neufchtel. James L. Kraft invented
> pasteurized cheese in 1912, and that lead to the development of
> pasteurized Philadelphia cream cheese, the most popular cheese used
> for making cheesecake today.

I have read this claim about cream cheese being invented in the latter
half of the 19th century.

The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan, originally published in 1839
has four recipes for cheeses. One of those is for cream cheese. I
can't vouch for the texture being identical to Philadelphia Cream Cheese
but cream cheese as a type of cheese was certainly around prior to 1872.

CREAM CHEESE

Having kept your night's milk perfectly sweet, skim it, and mix the
cream with the morning's; make it lukewarm over a few embers, and stir
into it enough of the preparation of rennet, to turn it to a curd in
twenty or thirty minutes, adding half a pint of wine to each gallon of
the milk, a little rose water, and a small portion of salt. When a firm
curd is formed, drain the whey from it, put it in wet cloths, place them
smoothly in small cheese hoops, and press them lightly: next day turn
them, wetting the cloth, and press them lightly again for twenty-four
hours; then brush them over well with butter, using a soft cloth; place
them in a wire safe, or some other convenient place where the air will
have free admission to them, taking care to turn them over every
morning, and brush them lightly with a soft cloth, and a little butter.
In one week they will be fit for use. Scrape and brush the outsides
neatly, and send them to table whole, as they should be quite small.
They are eaten at tea, and are considered very fine. They look very
pretty pressed in hoops of a conical shape, and sent whole to be sliced
at table. When you press them in such hoops, you must have a small hole
made in the top, or pinacle of each hoop for the whey to escape, and
place the small ends downwards while pressing.



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