The first cheese curds I tasted were at the Tillamook Factory in Oregon. It was love at first bite… since then I have tasted numerous cheese curds from several producers and it’s hard to beat fresh curds… especially when they are so fresh they are warm.
However, unless you are at the factory it’s hard to find curds warm… but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy curds that are packaged and sold at the retail level.
I recently was gifted with four bags of Cheese Curds from Award-winning Decatur Dairy.
Decatur Dairy, founded in the 1940s and located in Brodhead, Wisconsin, is a Cooperative with more than 70 members throughout Green, Rock, and Lafayette Counties. Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker, Steve Stettler**, has developed several new cheeses for the Co-op including a European style Havarti, a Swiss-lace cheese called Stettler Swiss and a Colby-Swiss marbled cheese. Decatur Swiss also produces Muenster, Brick, Farmers Cheese, Colby Longhorn, Butterkase and Queso Blanco.
The four bags of Decatur Dairy Cheese Curds I received were White Cheddar, a combination of White and Yellow Cheddar, Ranch and Garlic and Herbs.
All four choices were tasty and just salty enough. Curds by nature are mild and milky. I shared them with The Man and he swooned.
Cheese Curds are one of the three ingredients in Poutine. The other two ingredients are French fries and a brown, beefy gravy. The first time I had Poutine was in Madison, Wisconsin in 2013 when I sat for the ACS CCP Exam. Then again, I found them on a menu in Anchorage, Alaska. I have made Poutine on a few occasions but I can’t seem to quite duplicate the ones I enjoyed in Madison… but I shall try again… and again…
Poutine originated in the Province of Quebec in the 1950’s. While it was ridiculed for many years, now it is hailed as part of the Quebec cuisine with yearly Poutine festivals being held in several Canadian cities, New Hampshire and Chicago.
Tip: If you pop a few curds into a microwave for about 10 seconds, they’ll squeak the way they do when they are warm and fresh out of the vat.
** Steve Stettler is a Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker certified to make Brick, Cheddar, Cheese Curds, Farmer’s Cheese, Havarti, Muenster and Swiss. According to his bio at Wisconsin Cheese he began making cheese “As soon as I could put boots on”.
I carry Cheese Curds in my cheese shop inside Sweet Combs of Honey and in my Amazon Influencer Storefront.
In addition to being a member of the Internationale Guilde des Fromagers (Jura and Garde) and an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
This post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission from any purchases you make through those links. I thank you for patronizing my amazon influencer store front.
Cheese events at Sweet Combs of Honey will begin again in the next several weeks. Enjoy your summer vacation!!
I sample specialty artisan cheeses most Saturdays at Sweet Combs of Honey: Check out my “Grab n Go” page at Facebook for more information.
The Man, aka Peter M. Wright, has written his first novel: Gold Fever, available at amazon.com as a kindle book for only $2.99.
Written in the flavor of one of our favorite movies, Romancing the Stone, Gold Fever is a romantic adventure that 
brings together an archeologist looking to establish his name in his field and a rock star on the verge of burn-out.
In GOLD FEVER an Archeologist motivated by a newly discovered clue, searches for a fabled Native American Legend – the long ago lost Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. While the Archeologist seeks to prove the legend is actually true, he is constantly under attack by a second group seeking the treasure.
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