Curds are a byproduct of coagulating milk, a process also known as curdling. Coagulation happens when you add an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, to dairy. The increase in acidity causes the milk proteins to tangle together into solid masses. This process will also occur naturally if you leave milk out to sour.
Coagulation is one of the first steps in cheese production. After the curds are formed, they’re pressed and drained before different elements are introduced, depending on the type of cheese being made. The liquid that is leftover after the curds are drained is called whey.
So there you have it: Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her byproducts of cheesemaking.
Sound kinda gross? Well, it’s not quite as weird as it seems. If you think about it, curds and whey are just cottage cheese in its purest form.
Curds and Whey vs. Modern Cottage Cheese
While it’s not exactly commonplace to chow down on plain cottage cheese these days, eating curds and whey as a snack was a relatively normal thing to do when the nursery rhyme was first published.
If you do choose to spoon your cottage cheese directly into your mouth, though, no judgment here. But you should know that what you’re eating may not be exactly what Little Miss Muffet enjoyed on her tuffet all those years ago.
Modern cottage cheese is washed, salted, and drained. Cream is usually added to the cottage cheese you buy in stores to improve the texture and taste.
The curds and whey of yore likely tasted more acidic than today’s cottage cheese, as the lemon juice or vinegar that promoted curdling would’ve affected the flavor.
Who Was Little Miss Muffet?
So who was this Little Miss Muffet who liked to sit around and eat curdled milk? Nobody knows for sure.
One popular origin story is that the subject of the nursery rhyme was Patience Muffet, the stepdaughter of a prolific English entomologist named Thomas Muffet. The poem was allegedly inspired by an ill-fated family meal, when a spider from the elder Muffet’s collection frightened Patience and caused her to run away from her breakfast.
There’s no evidence that this tale has any truth to it at all, as the rhyme wasn’t published until 200 years after Muffet’s death—but that doesn’t mean it’s not delightful.
Now that we’ve cleared up the curds and whey thing and we know who Little Miss Muffet may have been, we have one final question: What the hell is a tuffet?
What are curds and whey? If you answered cottage cheese, you're right. The curd is the lumps and the whey is the liquid. While it may not sound very appetizing, cottage cheese has some health benefits to consider.
It's not quite as weird as it sounds. If you think about it, curds and whey are just cottage cheese in its purest form. Dera Burreson / Dotdash Meredith.
Milk contains a protein called casein and when you add an acid (like vinegar or lemon juice) it causes those proteins to clump together. The solid clumps are called curds, and the leftover liquid is called whey–just like in “l*ttle Miss Muffet!”
Rennin is an enzyme from a calf's stomach, and it makes some of the proteins in milk clump together. These clumping proteins are called "curd proteins," while the milk proteins that refuse to clump are called "whey proteins." These proteins are the curds and whey of Miss Muffet's lunch.
Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard cheese, like cheddar or Swiss cheese.
While it's not exactly commonplace to chow down on plain cottage cheese these days, eating curds and whey as a snack was a relatively normal thing to do when the nursery rhyme was first published. If you do choose to spoon your cottage cheese directly into your mouth, though, no judgment here.
It is packed with protein, rich in healing fats (the best coming from properly raised grass-fed animals) and, most important, is an excellent digestive aid. Fresh, unripened cheese made from raw cultured dairy products is bursting with probiotic (pro-life) activity.
Curds are the easy part, in that they are the solids when you make cheese.The whey is just the liquid that is left over and is sometime just thrown away. After making mozzarella the other day, I wondered what use I could put all the whey to, and after a little research I found out there are lots of uses.
Posted September 27, 2003. "Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Alon..." You may remember this beloved nursery rhyme, but have you ever wondered, 'what are curds and whey?"
I use the whey from Lemon Cheese in baked goods, as a cooking liquid for rice, a stock substitute in soups, and a cheese sauce replacement for soups and pasta. Whey sauce is not for the lactose intolerant. Lactose hangs out in whey when you drain your curds to make them into cheese.
“l*ttle Miss Muffet” is about a girl named Patience, who was Dr Muffet's stepdaughter. The lyrics probably tell the story of an incident when Patience ran away from her breakfast, being frightened by a spider from Dr. Muffet's collection.
It was written by a pilgrim who sailed to America on the Mayflower (1620). The passenger observed the way Native American women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles suspended from a tree, so that the wind rocked the baby to sleep.
The curdling is the result of a chemical reaction between the vinegar (acid) and the fats and proteins. You can separate the curds out of the milk by pouring the clumpy mess through a filter like a strong paper towel or piece of cheesecloth. The liquid that passes through the paper towel or cheesecloth is called whey.
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