Question for my British friends (or anyone else who knows)

[fenchurch]

I've been pulling a lot of really good recipes from the UK Weight Watchers website (as well as the WW sites in Australia and Canada) and I've gotten pretty good at deciphering food names where they differ, but there's one ingredient that has shown up a lot that I have no idea what the American equivalent might be: low-fat soft cheese.

Mostly, I'm wondering if this is a specific product or if it's just any soft cheese that happens to be low fat?

(I'm still rather annoyed by the number of yummy looking recipes that call for low-fat crème fraîche, since we've only recently been able to find the regular stuff in the non-specialty stores here... never mind some fancy shmancy low fat stuff!)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/]

Fen, I *think* it's low fat cream cheese, but I'll be interestred to read your responses from Great Britain.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Looks like that's the case! It's what I sort of assumed it would be, but hadn't been able to find any definitive answer anywhere online.

[vampirefever.livejournal.com]

It's the generic name for cream cheese.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I sort of thought it might be, but hadn't been able to find any definite answer online anywhere. Now I have a bunch of new recipes to try!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing but I wonder if you could just drain some low fat plain yogurt in cheesecloth or a coffee filter and use that.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

After I saw so many people mention yogurt, I tried another search and found a few sites that recommended just what you're saying... so yay! Even more recipes I can try now! Thanks!

[gillo]

Low-fat Philly would do. As for the crème fraiche, try a mild yoghurt instead.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The cream cheese makes sense and was sort of what I was suspecting it would be... but I couldn't find a definite answer anywhere online. And since so many people mentioned yogurt for crème fraiche, I was able to do another search and found a technique for straining the yogurt to make it an even better fit!

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Nah - just use low-fat or non-fat sour cream in place of the creme fraiche. Creme fraiche is a little looser, so you could thin down the sour cream with a little milk, I think, but it's not necessary.

And yeah, as everyone else is saying, soft cheese is cream cheese.

[hazel75.livejournal.com]

I'd bet it's neufchatel (or however the heck you spell it) cheese.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Yep! That looks to be the case! I'd sort of assumed it was, but hadn't been able to get any confirmation online anywhere. Can't wait to try some of those recipes!

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

I don't know the answer to your questions, but surfing the internet I found the following table:

http://www.happydaycards.com/ww/foodtranslations.html

curiouswombat mentions golden syrup on occasion. The table says that the American equivalent is corn syrup.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've been out to that site before... it's just that none of them had mentioned soft cheese. I'd sort of suspected it might be light cream cheese, but wanted to know for sure.

Although I've got to say that corn syrup doesn't work very well for me as a substitute for golden syrup. The consistency is the same and it does have the same chemical reaction that they're looking for in a recipe, but the flavor is completely different. Thankfully, there are a ton of places around here that carry the real thing, because I've got a few recipes that call for it.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

YES - there is no substitute for Golden Syrup. It is completely singular, both in flavor and texture, and corn syrup is icky in comparison.

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

I rarely bake, but curiouswombat has posted several recipes that look wonderful, many of which use golden syrup. I cannot imagine that it is not available somewhere in NYC.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I've just looked at a couple of recipes - like the Chocolate Orange Tiramisu, and if you can get Philadelphia Lite it would be the perfect low-fat soft cheese.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Spiffy! Thanks! I'd sort of suspected that was the case, but couldn't find any definite information on it anywhere online.

*goes off to try a bunch of new recipes*

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

As far as creme fraiche, I've had pretty good luck substituting a mild yogurt.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

That's good to know... and since so many people mentioned yogurt as a substitute, I was able to do a better search and found a few places that gave techniques for making it an even better fit as a substitute. Thanks!!

[corellian-sugar.livejournal.com]

When I spent the summer of '88 in Scotland, low-fat soft cheese was cream cheese. Not sure about Britain, but I'm assuming things wouldn't be that different. Good luck.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Looks like that's the case! And I was suspecting it might be, but couldn't find any information anywhere that said for sure. Now I can't wait to try some of the recipes I've been saving...