What Is The History Of The Cheese Curd?

Most people who don’t live in certain regions of the country haven’t necessarily heard of the cheese curd. While they are especially popular in Wisconsin (being present at every fair), they are also popular in other areas of the Midwest as well as upstate New York and even Quebec. This type of cheese is delicious and one of the most popular options in this area, but few people know its history. In reality, no one is completely sure of how or when they were first made, but experts have several guesses and there are rumors as well. Here is all the commonly believed information about the history of the cheese curd.

The Legend

As mentioned, there is no sure history of the cheese curd. Most experts, however, have pointed to one legend that you can find repeated almost everywhere. It starts centuries ago in a desert in the Middle East. A nomad was traveling and had decided to bring milk with him to drink on his journey. After several hours, he decided he was thirsty but because of the extreme heat, his milk wasn’t the normal consistency. Instead it had curdled creating a mix of white curds and liquid. These were supposedly the first cheese curds.

Why It Happened

Experts believe that the milk curdled because the bag he was holding it in contained rennin. This is an enzyme that is still used to help curdle milk creating cheese. The rennin was there because the bag was made using a cow’s stomach. Rennin will normally cause milk to coagulate and curdle over time but when it is exposed to heat, the process will happen much faster, which is how this nomad of legend ended up with a snack instead of the milk he was looking forward to drinking.

Popularity

Although no date is ever associated with the above legend of the first cheese curds, there are some historic records that do give us a time frame. There is a Celtic song that experts point out that not only mentions cheese curds, but dates back to the 12th century. This indicates that perhaps this squeaky cheese has been around for at least 900 years. Cheese curds began to really grow in popularity when various milk factories had surpluses during the 20th century. When this happened, people needed to figure out what to do with this extra milk and the logical solution was to create cheese curds as they are easy to make.

How They Are Made

Today manufacturers don’t make cheese curds by taking a bag of milk out into the desert. In fact, the curds can actually be a by-product of the production of cheddar cheese. During the manufacturing process, they will add salt to the chunks of cheese. At this point, they will separate the curds and sell these right away. They can then compress the leftover cheese to make blocks of cheddar. They can also be made without being a by-product simply by coagulating milk then separating the whey from the milk solids. They then cook the milk solids and rain them before salting them and declaring them ready.