Around here, every grocery store, dépanneur and gas station has fresh cheese curds for sale, usually on a display right near the front door. They are an impulse buy, either to make poutine or to eat as a snack right out of the bag. It is all about the SQUEAK! If they don’t squeak, it isn’t worth it. I LOVE being back in Québec!
I also won’t touch the orange stuff… cheese shouldn’t be fluorescent orange!
Mmm, squeaky cheese curds. I’m an expatriate Wisconsinite living south of the cheese curtain - it was only a couple weeks ago that I saw that a local Wild Oats carries cheese curds, but I’m suspicious of whether or not they squeak.
I’m getting some tomorrow. The gas station a block away gets fresh curd delivered monday and friday. I only got fresh curd maybe every two years before the nearby gas station started to get it in. It frustrating because the makers only make it during the week, and it’s about a hundred miles to a plant, then they only make it twice a week, or the person making it is gone and you can get some tomorrow.
Curds are normally cheddar or coby. The moistness hasn’t all drained out yet. They taste best salted, and most places have enough salt on the curds. I once got some fresh string cheese that still squeeked and was it ever delicious. It happened to be my favorite maker of string cheese (Weyauwega) so it was a double score.
Ohhhh yummmm! Thanks for reminding me! My grocery store has them. I wonder about how fresh they are but I don’t think there’s any other local source. Think I’ll get some next trip. I’m going to Montreal in the summer - wheeee!
I was completely ignorant of cheese curds but oh my god, I want some! I love cheese…I love squeaky things…Why must I live so far from cheese factories?
Bravo Farms here in the Central Valley of California makes Squeaks, from happy California cows. The factory is about 40 minutes down the highway. I’m a happy girl.
Does anyone know of a great place to order them online, they sound so good, I had them from Wisconsin a long time ago but please let me know where the real fresh squeky stuff is online to order
thanks
I was in Green Bay yesterday (don’t cha know) and got some cheese curds. They made a nice snack at the airport.
I don’t think they’d last long enough to still squeak if you ordered them online. They’ve gotta be REALLY fresh, less than a day old.
Ours were already duds by last night. 
Funny, last night we were talking to some friends from Pittsburgh that are coming to visit in July. I told them I’d meet them at the cheese factory down the road and they could follow me to our house, rather than giving a lot of confusing directions.
Well that sent them into fits of laughter as I had unwittingly confirmed every Wisconsin stereotype they had. But when I mentioned that we could pick up fresh squeaky curds (because they are arriving on a friday, and the factory always has fresh curds on friday), they were puzzled. They were entirely unfamiliar with the concept of squeaky cheese.
The Natural Pastures (I think that’s the brand at any rate) curds aren’t fresh enough to squeak, unfortunately. They’re better than nothing though.
I’ve had my squeeky cheese for 15 minutes now, and half the bag is gone. I have to finish it off now, so no more typing. Bye.
uglyduckling you’re out of luck, because after half a day they start to loose squeekiness, and after a day they’re plain old dull not as tasty cheese curds.
:: happy dance ::
I’m on my way up north tomorrow morning! When I get to Mullins Cheese Factory I’m gonna get some that came that came straight outta the vat ten minutes before! Mmmmmgarblesnoshsmackslurp.
Where are you in WI, my store has fresh squeaky ones in every Friday.
I’ve never heard of them either, but evidently I’ve been missing out I have some dumb questions:
Do they taste like cheese, only milder? I’m imagining some softer smoother puffier version of hard cheese. Is the texture kinda like cottage cheese pieces? Are they like monster pieces of cottage cheese?
Do they taste like cheese, only milder?
I’m imagining some softer smoother puffier version of hard cheese.
Is the texture kinda like cottage cheese pieces? Are they like monster pieces of cottage cheese?
Oh we’re pretty much in the center, right smack dab in the middle of nowhere. It’s not that we can’t get cheese curds, we just tend not to. There are a few cheese factories nearby; we just don’t go to them. But some friends of ours from Milwaukee always make the rounds when they come to visit.
By the 80’s most of Central Wisconsin cheese makers closed down. Sand country glacieral drift didn’t compete well with farms on richer soil, and other factors closed plants. Southern, Eastern and Western Wisconsin have many cheese makers. Central Wisconsin is more into potato or cranberry production. We do produce the USA’s largest yearly crop of cranberries, putting Maine to shame. California may beat us on cheese production in the future, but they’re multiple times the size of Wisconsin. Who cares? We’ll still have our local plants producing lots of wonderful cheese. Coby Wisconsin is the originating town of Colby cheese.
I know a Scarlet in the area? Is it your name Scarlett67.
I have lived here for almost 3 years now and, for some reason, never had cheese curds. I’ll usually try almost anything…and I love cheese…but these kinda scare me.
Maybe it’s their omnipresence.
I almost feel moved to buy some at the grocery tomorrow. But what if they are not fresh?? Will they just be mediocre cheddar?
Oh, and all of you will be happy to know that the Google ads down below are offering lubricants for your Squeaking Cheese Problem (SCP).
Kneepants Erasmus, the Humanist: (I almost feel moved to buy some at the grocery tomorrow. But what if they are not fresh?? Will they just be mediocre cheddar?)
Yes it’s plain curd that needs to age. Curd is chedder that didn’t get pressed into blocks after the cutting and salting. The whey that leeks out is bery much part of the flavor. Fresh curd is not great because it squeaks. It squeaks because some of the whey is still in it and thus it squeaks. It’s a litmus test. It will squeak if it’s fresh. It also needs to be warm to squeak. An hour or two in the refridgerator will kill the squeak and the taste. The taste is much better warm. You will see some liquid in the bottom of the bag of fresh curd, because it’s draining slowly from the curds. No liquid is a sign that it’s not squeaky cheese curd. The hardness is about like a harvetta cheese, but no tackiness.