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Cheese from Wisconsin and the US Midwest

Cheese curds

Cheese curds are Cheddar curd sold before it is pressed into blocks. Milk is cultured, set with rennet, cut and cooked; the curd is matted, cut into slabs, milled into pieces and salted. The pieces are sold right after making and kept at room temperature for a day for the best texture.

Recipe

Cheese curds, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: User:Atyndall, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedThe Cheddar standard fixes the steps but gives no recipe amounts.
Cow milk[cfr133-113]
Lactic acid-producing cultureA thermophilic-based starter in one Canadian study[cfr133-113][stgelais2009]
Rennet or another clotting enzyme[cfr133-113]
Salt[cfr133-113]
Starterlactic culture; a thermophilic-based starter in one study

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countS. thermophilusLactococcus cremoris

What changes: Culture and rennet go into the milk and it sets

Step 1 of 6
Culture and set the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
Lactococcus cremoris

Output: set curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic culture starts the acid; rennet sets the milk

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Cheese curds are Cheddar curd sold before it is pressed into blocks. Milk is cultured, set with rennet, cut and cooked; the curd is matted, cut into slabs, milled into pieces and salted. The pieces are sold right after making and kept at room temperature for a day for the best texture. Made in 6 steps over 24 h. The longest step, sell fresh at room temperature, takes 24 h (St-Gelais D 2009). Streptococcus thermophilus, dominant during making and Lactococcus cremoris do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[stgelais2009]Sell fresh at room temperature
Temperature4 °CReported[stgelais2009]Chill

What makes this one different

Curds follow the Cheddar make up to milling and salting, then skip pressing and ripening. They are sold fresh and last only days.

Milk
Cow milk
Ripening
None; sold the same day and kept about a day at room temperature
Flavour
Salty from the fresh salting, with some acidity and milky notes; best eaten the day they are made
Shelf life
Generally 3 days at 4 °C

Related ferments

Variants

  • Flavoured curdsMade with a diacetyl-producing Lactococcus strain for a buttery flavour and slower souring.

Safety

US Cheddar rules (21 CFR 133.113) require pasteurised milk, or curing for at least 60 days at 35 °F or above. Fresh curds are not cured, so make them from pasteurised milk. The paper cited describes retail practice of 24 h at room temperature, then storage at 4 °C.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In 2009 a Canadian team reported that Cheddar cheese in curd form was very popular in eastern Canada, sold straight after making and with a shelf life of about 3 days. Natural cheese curd sales in the US reached about $52 million in 2021, and fresh curds were still bought mostly in the Midwest. In 2022 the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research began a project on why fresh curds lose their squeak.

  1. [cfr133-113] US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 133.113 Cheddar cheese (via Cornell LII)gov
  2. [stgelais2009] St-Gelais D., Lessard J., Champagne C.P., Vuillemard J.C. 2009, Production of fresh Cheddar cheese curds with controlled postacidification and enhanced flavor, Journal of Dairy Science 92:1856–1863paper
  3. [lucey2022] Lucey J.A. 2022, Can the dairy industry extend the squeakiness of fresh cheese curds?, Dairy Foods, 21 October 2022 (column by the director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research)other