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I have been told that , as a newbie, I should start with a cheese that's relatively easy to make.  Neufchatel has been recommended.  I have a question about Neufchatel.  I've never seen it labled as such in the store.  Is Neufchatel similar to Boursin?

Hi umgowa!  I am not sure where you are located, but here in the southwest, low-fat cream cheese is often labeled as "low-fat cream cheese or neufchatel"  Both names, on the label.  We really don't get very good cheeses here.

Umgowa, American style "Neufchatel" is very common in US & Canada, not sure about other parts of world. You find it in 1/2 lb/0.25 kg rectangles next to cream cheese rectangles. There is also the original French Neufchatel which is normally shaped like a heart and has white surface mold similar to Brie & Camembert and is harder to make, here's a picture of several cheeses in France including wrapped French Neufchatel.

Boursin is a brand and basically a flavoured cream cheese which you make with cream rather than milk, very similar but higher fat content and slightly tougher to make if using store bought cream as it is usually Ultra Pasteurized (ie 3/4 dead), my last batch of "Boursin" I made records here.

Quote from: John (CH) on March 08, 2010, 11:12:28 PM
Umgowa, American style "Neufchatel" is very common in US & Canada, not sure about other parts of world. You find it in 1/2 lb/0.25 kg rectangles next to cream cheese rectangles. There is also the original French Neufchatel which is normally shaped like a heart and has white surface mold similar to Brie & Camembert and is harder to make, here's a picture of several cheeses in France including wrapped French Neufchatel.

Boursin is a brand and basically a flavoured cream cheese which you make with cream rather than milk, very similar but higher fat content and slightly tougher to make if using store bought cream as it is usually Ultra Pasteurized (ie 3/4 dead), my last batch of "Boursin" I made records here.

The Boursin that I buy is not like cream cheese.  It is less creamy and more crumbly, while still being soft.   From my reading the recipe for Neufchatel, it seems like it may be crumbly  yet soft too . . so I wondered if it was basically the same type of cheese as Boursin . . . the word Boursin being a brand name for generic Neufchatel type of cheese.

Was just looking for a soft cheese recipie and spotted this.

I agree, the boursin in the UK is cream cheese.

Like in these photos
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,70.msg191.html#msg191

Are you thinking of the roulade log stuff? coated in herbs and rolled and sold in slices?

It's just as you say spreadable but crumbly..

I just made some neufchatel cheese last week, and its texture was sort of like a creamier boursin or a crumblier cream cheese. The taste was far more tangy than what I think of for boursin though. Your mileage may vary, of course, depending on your milk and such. I used organic pasteurized (but not ultra pasteurized) 2% cow's milk.