When I was a kid, one of my favorite treats -- right up there with ice cream and a Mille's spearmint sno-ball -- was a tub of Borden's Creole Cream Cheese mixed with sugar. My mother and I used to buy it at the old A&P just west of downtown on Howard Avenue and we'd sit on a bench and eat it before we even got home.
My friend Lou Ann and I were talking about this distinctly local delicacy the other day -- her dad was also a fan -- and then we wondered what the hell happened to it. The last time I personally remember buying it from a store, or even seeing it on the shelf, was in 1990 at the Jitney Jungle in Bay St. Louis.
I don't think Creole Cream Cheese ever was carried widely outside the New Orleans/Mississippi Coast area so no doubt a lot of people reading this won't know what I'm talking about.
Texture-wise, it was kind of a cross between regular cream cheese and sour cream. I've seen it referred to as farmer's cheese. It's also known as curds and whey -- yes those really do exist. I must confess the whole Little Miss Muffett angle was part of its appeal to me as a six year old.
On its own, Creole Cream Cheese didn't have much flavor. But something magical happened when it was mixed with sugar. Some people liked it mixed with fruit, kind of like yogurt (and come to think of it, CCC also resembles Greek yogurt), but I was always a purist.
I'm not really sure what caused its extinction. Maybe tastes have changed, and there was no market for it anymore. Maybe Borden did away with its regional lines. Maybe modern technology evolved and the process that created it no longer exists. It always struck me as a happy byproduct of some other procedure.
I hear tell you can still find Creole Cream Cheese in some specialty stores in New Orleans. Or you can make your own. Chef John Folse published a recipe for it that you can find here:
http://www.nolacuisine.com/2006/08/02/creole-cream-cheese-recipe-2/
It sounds easy enough, but I'm thinking you'll have the devil to pay finding those Rennet tablets. It might be easier to just drive all over New Orleans looking for the ready-made stuff.
And if you find some, get enough for me. We'll pull up a tuffett and share. The spider can go find his own.
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Hi Cathy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing this blog. I look forward to reading more. I am a Contributing Editor at Gourmet magazine, and am doing an oral history project for the Southern Foodways Alliance with Biloxians, interviewing them about their days shrimping the Gulf. (And I've met some real characters at the Slavonian Lodge.) Would you mind sharing your email address with me so that I might ask you a few questions? My email is texasfrank2000@yahoo.com. It'd be great to hear from you.
Thanks and cheers,
Francis Lam