10/15/2026
It’s National Cheese Curd Day!
If you’re near a cheesemaker who makes cheddar, count yourself lucky, because they usually also make cheese curds.
Cheese curds are essentially a step in the process of making cheddar. Each cheese has a different recipe and process, and for cheddar that means making it and then breaking it apart - that’s the step where we make cheese curds - and then putting it back together by pressing it either into blocks or truckles.
Cheese curds are pretty much day 1 cheddar. Some cheesemakers make cheese curds with a different recipe than their cheddar recipe, but for us it’s all the same recipe. We fill the vat with 3,000 pounds of milk, start making cheddar, pull off the cheese curds we need for our wholesale partners and for the Tasting Room, and then the rest gets put into molds and pressed into truckles of Street Ched that go into our aging rooms for 16-18 months. It’s quite the juxtaposition to taste a fresh cheese curd alongside our award-winning Street Ched and to know that they’re the same cheese, but with different treatment and age.
And, why in the heck do some cheese curds squeak?? When cheese curds are fresh (like REALLY fresh) and they haven’t been refrigerated, the casein proteins are springy and create a squeaky sound when you bite into them. After a day or two, when stored in the fridge, the calcium-protein bonds relax and moisture moves around in the cheese and softens the springiness of the proteins and they no longer squeak. They’re still delicious even when they don’t squeak. But the good news is, you can wake that spring back up by popping them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds or by pan-searing them in a non-stick skillet, which is our favorite. It gives them a bit of a crust with a melty inside and just the right squeak.
While we aren’t open today, we’ll have plenty of cheese curds this weekend and we’re restocking our retail partners with cheese today so they’ll have plenty too!
Happy holiday to all those who celebrate 🧀😉❤️
