![Fabrication du Beaufort (11)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Fabrication_du_Beaufort_%2811%29.jpg)
Curd is obtained by
coagulating
Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanism o ...
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...
in a sequential process called
curdling
Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; und ...
. It can be a final
dairy product
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...
or the first stage in
cheesemaking
Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrat ...
. The coagulation can be caused by adding
rennet
Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a ...
or any edible
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
ic substance such as
lemon juice
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...
or
vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
, and then allowing it to coagulate. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins (
casein
Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...
) to tangle into solid masses, or ''curds''. Milk that has been left to sour (
raw milk
Raw milk or unpasteurized milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, a process of heating liquid foods to kill pathogens for safe consumption and extending the shelf life.
Proponents of raw milk have asserted numerous supposed benefits to consu ...
alone or
pasteurized milk
Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life.
The ...
with added
lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillales are an order of gram-positive, low-GC, acid-tolerant, generally nonsporulating, nonrespiring, either rod-shaped (bacilli) or spherical (cocci) bacteria that share common metabolic and physiological characteristics. These bacte ...
) will also naturally produce curds, and
sour milk cheese
Acid-set or sour milk cheese is cheese that has been curdled (coagulated) by natural souring, often from lactic acid bacteria, or by the addition of acid. This type of cheese is technologically simple to produce.
When making soft acid-set cheese ...
s are produced this way. Producing cheese curds is one of the first steps in cheesemaking; the curds are pressed and drained to varying amounts for different styles of cheese and different secondary agents (molds for blue cheeses, etc.) are introduced before the desired aging finishes the cheese. The remaining liquid, which contains only
whey protein
Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. The proteins consist of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Glycomacropeptide also makes ...
s, is the
whey
Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard ...
. In cow's milk, 90 percent of the proteins are caseins. Curds can be used in baking or may be consumed as a snack.
Uses
![Kaimiška varškė](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Kaimi%C5%A1ka_var%C5%A1k%C4%97.JPG)
Curd products vary by region and include
cottage cheese
Cottage cheese is a curdled milk product with a mild flavor and a creamy, non-homogeneous, soupy texture. It is made from skimmed milk by draining the cheese, as opposed to pressing it to make cheese curd—retaining some of the whey and keeping ...
,
curd cheese
Quark or quarg is a type of fresh dairy product made from milk. The milk is soured, usually by adding lactic acid bacteria cultures, and strained once the desired curdling is achieved. It can be classified as fresh acid-set cheese. Traditi ...
(both curdled by bacteria and sometimes also rennet),
farmer cheese
In the United States, farmer cheese (also farmer's cheese or farmers' cheese) is pressed curds, an unripened cheese made by adding rennet and bacterial starter to coagulate and acidify milk. Farmer cheese may be made from the milk of cows, sh ...
,
pot cheese
Pot cheese is a type of soft, crumbly, unaged cheese. It is very simple to make and also highly versatile, making it a very popular cheese, but it may be hard to find in stores. Pot cheese is in the midway stage between cottage cheese and farmer ...
,
queso blanco
Queso blanco (), literally ''white cheese'' in Spanish, can refer to many different kinds of cheeses whose only common trait is their white color. The specific cheese referred to depends on the region.
Production
Queso blanco is considered on ...
, and
paneer
Paneer (), also known as ponir () is a fresh acid-set cheese common in the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft ...
. The word can also refer to a non-dairy substance of similar appearance or consistency, though in these cases a modifier or the word ''curdled'' is generally used.
In
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, curds produced using rennet are referred to as
junket; true curds and whey are produced from the natural separation of milk due to its environment (temperature, acidity). Curds are used to make
pudding
Pudding is a type of food. It can be either a dessert or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish served as part of the main meal.
In the United States, ''pudding'' means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, ins ...
as well, with
semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Etymo ...
, raisins, chopped nuts and other ingredients. This can be baked, or the curd pudding can be used to bake thin custard
pancakes
A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying wit ...
.
Cheese curd
Cheese curds are moist pieces of curdled milk, eaten either alone or as a snack, or used in prepared dishes. They are consumed throughout the northern United States and Canada. Notably, cheese curds are popular in Quebec, as part of the dish po ...
s, drained of the whey and served without further processing or aging, are popular in some
French-speaking
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
regions of Canada, such as
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, parts of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, and
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
. These are often sold in snack-sized packaging and seen as a typically Canadian food item. Throughout Canada cheese curds are served with
french fries
French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...
and
gravy
Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt an ...
in a popular snack called ''
poutine
Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...
''. Curds are also typical of some Germanic-descent regions such as historic
Waterloo County
Waterloo County was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario from 1853 until 1973. It was the direct predecessor of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.
Situated on a subset of land within the Haldimand Tract, the traditional territory of ...
in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
.
In some parts of the
Midwestern U.S.
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, especially in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, curds are eaten fresh without further additions, or they are breaded and fried.
In
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, curds are called ''keÅŸ'' and are served on
fried bread
Fried bread is a slice of bread that has been fried.
Nutrition
A small slice (35g) of fried bread has 174 calories.
Around the world
British Isles
A full English breakfast will often include bread fried in oil, butter, lard, or bacon ...
and are also eaten with macaroni in the provinces of
Bolu
Bolu is a city in Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province. The population is 131,264 (2012 census).
The city has been governed by mayor Tanju Özcan ( CHP) since local elections in 2019. It was the site of Ancient Claudiopolis a ...
and
Zonguldak
Zonguldak () is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in EreÄŸli and the coal trade remains its main economic activity. According to the ...
.
In
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
chongos zamoranos is a dessert prepared with milk curdled with sugar and cinnamon.
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
is made by boiling whey for about 15 minutes and adding vinegar or lemon. The derivative is drained and salted to taste. can be served immediately or refrigerated for a couple of days.
See also
* ''
Aarts Aarts is a Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Co ...
'', Mongolian fermented curd, eaten as a dried snack or reconstituted as a hot beverage
*
Chongos zamoranos, a dessert prepared with milk curdled with sugar and cinnamon
*
Cuajada
Cuajada ( milk curd) is a cheese product. Traditionally it is made from ewe's milk, but now it is more often made industrially from cow's milk. It is popular in the northern regions of Spain (Asturias, Basque Country, Navarre, Aragon, Castile ...
(or Coalhada), usually sweetened and eaten for breakfast or dessert, popular in Spain and Central America
*
Curd snack
Curd snack, cottage cheese bar or curd cheese bar is a type of sweet dairy product made from glazed or unglazed Tvorog with or without filling. Nowadays curd snacks are popular mainly in Eastern Europe and former Eastern Bloc countries: in the ...
, a snack popular in the Baltic States
*
Çökelek
Çökelek ( az, Şor) is a fermented and acid/heat coagulated fresh cheese from Turkey and Azerbaijan. It can be produced from heating fermented buttermaking by-products such as buttermilk (), though skimmed milk yogurt can also be used as a starti ...
, a form of fermented
buttermilk
Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mod ...
or yogurt curd from Turkey
*
Farmer cheese
In the United States, farmer cheese (also farmer's cheese or farmers' cheese) is pressed curds, an unripened cheese made by adding rennet and bacterial starter to coagulate and acidify milk. Farmer cheese may be made from the milk of cows, sh ...
*
Hoop cheese Hoop cheese is a traditional cow's milk cheese that was common in the Southern United States from the early to mid 1900s. It is still available today, although it is much less common. It is a simple cheese prepared by separating the whey from curds. ...
*
Key lime pie
Key lime pie is an American dessert pie. It is made of lime, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk. It may be served with no topping, topped with a meringue topping made from egg whites, or with whipped cream; it may be cooked in a pie crust, ...
, prepared by curdling condensed milk
*
Kesú Paraguay, a Paraguayan formed cottage cheese
* ''
Kurt'' or ''
Qurut
Kashk ( fa, کشک ''Kašk'', ku, keşk), qurut ( Tuvan and ky, курут, kk, құрт, tk, gurt, uz, qurt, az, qurut, ps, قروت, hy, չորթան-''chortan'', Turkish: ''kurut'') or aaruul and khuruud ( Mongolian: ''ааруул' ...
'', central Asian cheese curd
*''
Leipäjuusto
Leipäjuusto (bread cheese) or juustoleipä ( fit, kahvijuusto; sv, kaffeost or ''brödost''), also known in the United States as Finnish squeaky cheese, is a Finnish fresh cheese traditionally made from cow's beestings, rich milk from a cow th ...
'', Finnish cheese
* ''
Ostkaka
Ostkaka, meaning "cheese" and meaning "cake" in Swedish, also known as Swedish cheesecake or Swedish curd cake, is a Swedish dessert that has its roots in two different parts of Sweden, Hälsingland and Småland, though there are some differen ...
'', Swedish style cheese cake, some call it a Swedish National dish
*
''Paskha'', a Russian
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
dessert made of
quark
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...
* ''
Ricotta
Ricotta ( in Italian) is an Italian whey cheese made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milk whey left over from the production of other cheeses. Like other whey cheeses, it is made by coagulating the proteins that remain after the ...
'', an Italian
whey cheese
Whey cheese is a dairy product made of whey, the by-product of cheesemaking. After the production of most cheeses, about 50% of milk solids remain in the whey, including most of the lactose and lactalbumin. The production of whey cheese allows ch ...
* ''
Skyr
Skyr ( ; ) is an Icelandic cultured dairy product originating in Norway. It has the consistency of strained yogurt, but a milder flavor. Skyr can be classified as a fresh sour milk cheese, similar to curd cheese consumed like a yogurt in the Ba ...
'', Icelandic curd
*
Tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...
, the coagulated product from soy milk, from
eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and
south-eastern Asian countries
* ''
Túró Rudi'', a Hungarian chocolate bar with curd
* ''
Urdă'', a
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
fresh white cheese made from whey.
*
List of dairy products
This is a list of dairy products. A dairy product is food produced from the milk of mammals. A production plant for the processing of milk is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, agricultural, or an animal hu ...
References
External links
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
{{Milk navbox
Dairy products
Cheese dishes