Is Philadelphia cream cheese from actually Philadelphia? If you happen to do a fundamental Google search, loads of respected articles from Right this moment to Newsweek even the Philadelphia Inquirer (sadly) will say no. Wikipedia says no. Even a viral Reddit thread says no.

However that’s fully and completely improper.

Let me begin by giving credit score the place credit score is due (contemplating that’s my bone to choose on this complete state of affairs) — American cream cheese was “invented” in New York State by William Lawrence in 1875. He discovered success out there as one of many first producers of cream cheese, and expanded his operation all through the Nineties. He even tacked on the moniker “Philadelphia” to his product to affiliate it with the established, flourishing dairy market within the Philadelphia and surrounding Pennsylvania areas.

The William Lawrence Firm ultimately turned referred to as the Phenix Cheese Firm, and was purchased out by the Kraft Company in 1928. Tha t appears the be the place the story stops proper? Completely improper. That is actually a multi-pronged story within the saga of cream cheese.

Keep in mind how I stated Philadelphia had a flourishing dairy market? Properly, Philly was well-known within the 1870s and onward for his or her butter, cream, and different dairy merchandise. A lot so, surrounding cities within the Mid-Atlantic space would hunt down Philadelphia-made dairy merchandise for his or her grocery shops. Locations like Washington DC, Baltimore, and Atlantic Metropolis had been all clambering to inventory Philly dairy merchandise.

The most well-liked butter within the Eighties (in accordance with articles and ads within the Atlantic Metropolis Gazette-Overview, the Day by day Republican, Night Star, the Philadelphia Occasions, Newport Day by day Information, the Night Journal, Press of Atlantic Metropolis, and so on.) was “Sharpless Gilt-Edge Butter” or “Sharpless Philadelphia Butter”(Philadelphia was added to the identify in 1890). It got here from a creamery on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and its status vastly preceded itself. In keeping with the Philadelphia Occasions in 1888, Sharpless gilt-edge butter was “essentially the most scrumptious addition to the feast of fine issues” and shoppers would “by no means put tongue to something so toothsome.” The butter was so well-liked, it was reportedly used on the White Home, in accordance with the Lancaster Examiner in 1902, the place they write: “The Sharpless butter is In nice demand in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington. Butter used on the White Home is made by Sharpless.”

The Sharpless Creamery grew below the possession of Pennock Edwards Sharpless, a local Pennsylvanian and son of a outstanding native dairy farmer, William Sharpless. He moved his creamery to Ward Village, Harmony Township, PA in 1893, the place he produced many dairy merchandise from butter, condensed milk, pimento cheese, and most significantly — cream cheese! The creamery burned down in June 1900 as a result of an arson assault, however was instantly rebuilt. In 1904, Sharpless Creamery was totally included as a home enterprise company (#326461) and mass producing dairy merchandise on the market throughout the mid-Atlantic area. In 1910, the New York Produce Overview and American Creamery notes that “John B. Fassler, head cheesemaker of the P.E. Sharpless Firm plant at Ward, Delaware County stories day by day receipts of 16,000 lbs. milk. Of this over half is made up into Neufchatel and Philadelphia cream cheese, the remaining goes into condensed milk.” Sharpless used the moniker “Philadelphia cream cheese” on his tinfoil packaged cream cheese truffles, and examples of ads can been seen in each main newspaper on the time on this area (Atlantic Metropolis Gazette-Overview, Day by day Republican, Night Star, The Philadelphia Occasions, Newport Day by day Information, The Night Journal, Press of Atlantic Metropolis, Delaware County Day by day Occasions, Lancaster New Period, Denton Journal, Asbury Park Press, The Washington Publish, Harrisburg Telegraph, The Virginian-Pilot, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Studying Occasions, and so on.). The Sharpless Creamery additionally turned to the fluid milk enterprise in 1922, after they consolidated with the Breyer Ice Cream Firm to create the Breyer-Sharpless Milk Affiliation. The Ice Cream Overview of 1922 notes that “The Breyer Firm confined itself to the manufacture of ice cream earlier to the consolidation, whereas the Sharpless agency have lengthy been referred to as producers of fancy print butter and bundle cheese, in addition to condensed and evaporated milk.” So principally, the Sharpless Creamery had the Philadelphia dairy market cornered!

The fact of the cream cheese increase on the flip of the twentieth century was that there have been solely 5 main creameries making and promoting cream cheese: Phenix Firm and F.X. Baumert Firm in New York, Kraft Firm and Blue Label Cream Cheese Firm in Chicago, and the P.E. Sharpless Creamery within the Philadelphia space, in accordance with the 1954 court docket case Kraft Meals Co. v. Commissioner of Inside Income. It goes on to state that “no different considerations, with the attainable exception of 1 or two small ones, made and bought cream cheese commercially in the USA at the moment.” Out of the 5 corporations, the P.E. Sharpless Creamery was the one geographically genuine Philadelphia cream cheese firm!

William A. Lawrence & Son (aka Phenix) sued the Sharpless Creamery in 1913 over deceptive promoting on their cream cheese packaging and received, which will be learn in Lawrence et al. v. P.E. Sharpless Co. Sharpless was utilizing a cow with blue lettering and tinfoil packaging on their merchandise, the identical as Lawrence/Phenix. This didn’t gradual Sharpless’ function although.

The Sharpless Firm went on to acquire three U.S. patents on their course of of constructing mushy cheese (patent # 1,258,438) and packaging (patent # 1,399,270 and 1,466,380) starting in 1918, 1921, and 1923. Two patents in 1937 overlaying the manufacture of cream cheese (patent #2,098,764 and a pair of,098,765) got to Pennock Edwards Sharpless’ son, Caspar Sharpless, who turned the final supervisor of the still-operating Sharpless plant in Ward after the sale to Kraft Firm.

In 1924, Kraft Firm bought the P.E. Sharpless Creamery and all property, together with their patents. Kraft continued utilizing the Sharpless identify on their dairy merchandise (seemingly for identify recognition), till 1941 when Kraft trademarked the “Philadelphia Model” moniker (trademark registration #0392212). Kraft additionally bought the Phenix Cheese Firm in 1928, combining the 2 once-warring “Philadelphia cream cheese” manufacturers. After all, Kraft Firm is the enterprise that makes and sells Philadelphia Model Cream Cheese right this moment. So to say that Philadelphia model cream cheese does NOT come from or have roots within the Philadelphia area is outright improper. The P.E. Sharpless Firm, now absorbed by the Kraft Firm together with Phenix, was the one industrial creamery company within the Philadelphia space making tried and true, genuine Philadelphia cream cheese on the flip of the century. Every other enterprise that used the moniker “Philadelphia” cream cheese had been doing so in affiliation solely. The Sharpless Creamery was the true Philadelphia cream cheese model.

Thanks for attending my cream cheese lecture.