
The house appetizer at Formichella’s: Salami Sliders – pretzel chips, salami, cream cheese and pickle
The left pair is made with Philly Whipped Cream Cheese, the middle pair with the yogurt cream cheese and the right pair with milk cream cheese.
The Philly cream cheese is much saltier than the homemade versions. The texture also leaves something to be desired, partly because it is whipped and partly because of all the crap that goes into “shelf stable” food. The flavor is much less sour than either of the homemade versions.
The yougurt cream cheese, not surprisingly, has a noticeable yogurt flavor that makes me think of yogurt as I eat it. Because of that, I didn’t find myself wanting to add any salt to it to make it taste more like the store bought cream cheese I’m used to. It tasted “right” as a yogurt flavored cream cheese.
The milk cream cheese had the brightest, most sour flavor of the three that made it taste like a “new” flavor to me – not like store bought cream cheese and not like yogurt. I decided to salt this version to make it more of a cheese to my taste buds.
Both of the homemade versions felt like food on my tongue as opposed to the strange sensation left by the xanthan gum, carab bean gum and/or guar gum that is in the Philly stuff – mmm mmmm gotta get me some guar gum!
What now? Well, the salami sliders will get milk cream cheese on the Formichella’s menu. Yogurt cream cheese is faster and would do nicely for any recipe where the yogurt flavor could blend in with other ingredients. I’m sure Philly cream cheese will still show up in my fridge for non-foodie use but not for anything I’m cooking for dinner guests.
Stay tuned for the baked potato sour cream tasting…