What exactly are curds and whey?

What exactly are curds and whey?


We have all heard about little Miss Muffet who sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey but what is that?


Cheese is made of curds, which are obtained by curdling (coagulating) milk with rennet (an enzyme); then draining off the whey. Whey is the liquid portion of milk, after the solids (protein and fat) have been extracted. The more whey that is removed during production, the drier the cheese will be. Cottage cheese has a high moisture or whey content and may even have been what Miss Muffet was eating!


When visiting Appenzell recently we had a whey/chocolate drink for breakfast. I can tell you it was good that chocolate had been added because all the taste is in the curds!