You may have heard the nursery rhyme that begins with, “Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.” But what are curds and whey? They’re two products of cheese making!
Cheese is made by adding an acid (such as vinegar or lemon juice) or rennet (an enzyme that can come from animals or plants) to milk. Adding acid causes the proteins in the milk to link together and clump tightly. This process is called coagulation. The solid lumps held together by the milk’s proteins are the curds, and the leftover liquid is the whey. Cheeses made this way include ricotta, cream cheese, goat cheese, queso blanco, and paneer. Maybe Little Miss Muffet was eating ricotta on her tuffet?
