Neufchâtel (French: [nøʃɑtɛl] ⓘ, [nœfʃɑtɛl]; Norman: Neu(f)câtel) is a soft, slightly crumbly, mold-ripened, bloomy-rind cheese made in the Neufchâtel-en-Bray region of Normandy.

One of the oldest kinds of cheese in France, its production is believed to date back as far as the 6th century AD, in the Kingdom of the Franks.

[3] For the end-of-year festivals during the Hundred Years' War, stories say that young girls offered heart-shaped cheeses to English soldiers to show their affection.

In 1957 the agricultural assembly of the Neufchâtel district created a federation for protecting the quality of the cheese, working to demand an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC, "controlled designation of origin").

[6] American "Neufchâtel" is softer than regular cream cheese due to its approximately ~33% lower fat and higher moisture content.