Quescrem Cream Cheese Blue Cheese Tub

TASTING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

Made with delicious cream cheese mixed with real crumbled blue cheese, this unique cream cheese from Quescrem is truly unique. It has a very pronounced but balanced flavor—tangy and creamy, but sharp and salty from the blue cheese. It’s velvety and easily spreadable, and remains stable when baked, and can be easily emulsified.

PREPARATION AND PAIRINGS

Use the Quescrem Cream Cheese Blue Cheese on its own as a spread for bagels, bread, and crackers. You can also use it in snacks, and as an ingredient in dipping sauces—it’s great paired with fruit jams and nuts. Because it emulsifies easily, you can use it for hot savory sauces. Use it also for salad dressings, as well. It’s very stable, so it’s great to bake with. Make quiches and savory tarts with it. You can also add it in with your hamburgers; its flavor goes great with grilled meats.

THE JOURNEY OF CREAM CHEESE

Cream cheese has had such a journey. It was first made in Normandy, France, and was thus called French Neufchatel. It dates back to around 1035, and is one of France’s oldest cheeses. It was first recoded in 1543, and attained AOC status in 1969.

But the version of cream cheese we are all familiar with, the one that you see everywhere, was made in the United States in the 19th century. It was created by William Lawrence, a dairyman from New York who added cream to Neufchatel cheese to make it richer, and called it “Neufchatel & Cream Cheese.” It quickly grew in popularity, and was quickly in demand. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, bakers started using wheat flour for bagels, making them softer, which made it easy to spread stuff on. It was during this time that it became incredibly popular in the New York Jewish community, where it was called “schmear,” and was used in the now-iconic bagel and cream cheese.

Storage Instructions

Keep cream cheese refrigerated. Store in refrigerator with a temperature of 40º F or lower. To maintain its consistency, do not freeze cream cheese packed in plastic containers which are softer than foil-wrapped blocks. Keep the original packaging of foil-wrapped cream cheese refrigerated if still unopened.