Cheesecurds

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CHEESE CURDS

Smart snackMarquette Elementary School – Madison, WINovember 2013

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

2+CHEESE CURDS: basics

Cheese curds are fresh cheese – part of the early process of making cheese.

Curds are usually smooshed together to make blocks of cheese – like cheddar cheese – that are stored or ‘aged’ to sell later.

Sometimes people describe cheese curds’ texture as ‘springy’ or ‘rubbery.’

Fresh cheese curds can squeak when you eat them.

These cheese curds were made yesterday around 10a.

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

3+CHEESE CURDS: where in the world… Archeologists found evidence that

people made cheese as early as 6000 BC in Mesopotamia.

Because cheese curds are best eaten soon after they are made, they are usually found in places that make cheese like Wisconsin, New York, and Quebec, Canada.

We bought these cheese curds from Farmer John who made them in Dodgeville, WI.

Farmer John sells cheese curds at farmers markets including the east side farmers market on the 900 block of Jenifer Street. (Marquette is on the 1500 block of Jenifer Street).

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

4+CHEESE CURDS: Farmer John’s

It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of curds.

We estimated that a class of 25 students would eat about 2.5 pounds of curds.

We bought the plain cheese curds. Farmer John also sells curds that are flavored with dill, garlic, or Cajun spices.

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

5+CHEESE CURDS: what can you do with them?

Eat – squeak.

Start a business. Two women, who were friends in elementary school, started Curd Girl – a food cart that sells cheese curds in Madison.

Create a festival. The town of Ellsworth, WI produces over 19 million curds a year. To celebrate, they started a Cheese Curd Festival.

Katie McGlenn - [email protected]

6+ENJOY

Cheese curds are dairy.

Dairy foods – like cheese – can provide calcium, potassium, protein, and vitamin D. Cheese is a ‘teeth friendly’ snack.

Too much cheese is a bad idea because it has fat and cholesterol. That’s why the dairy part of the plate is smaller than fruits and vegetables, grains and protein.

Sources: American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report. Optimizing Bone Health and Calcium Intakes of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. PEDIATRICS Vol. 117 No. 2 February 2006, pp. 578-585.http://traveltips.usatoday.com/cheese-curd-festival-ellsworth-wisconsin-4118.htmhttp://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2009-11-23#folio=CV1http://www.cheese-curd.com/how-cheese-curd-is-madehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cheese_Curds_with_scale_measurement.png