or curds is the solid part of milk which has been separated by curdling with rennet or an acid. Separating the curd in this way is the first step in making almost all kinds of cheese.
The curd contains the main milk protein, casein, and the milk fat. The liquid fraction, whey, contains the milk sugar and the remains of the protein. Curds and whey are eaten together as junket, a bland ‘nursery’ dessert. Also, of course, curds and whey were providing sustenance for Little Miss Muffet until the spider frightened her away.
Curd can be eaten as it is, with sugar or salt, cream or whey. ‘Cruddes’, as they were once called, have been a poor man's staple and middle-class ‘milk-meat’ for centuries. Samuel Pepys, the diarist, recorded having curds and cream or whey as a snack on several occasions. In modern times, curds have more often been used to make curd cakes or tart fillings (as in Yorkshire curd tarts), and similar dishes.
The word ‘curd’ is also used in other contexts, notably in the name of bean curd (see tofu), a comparable substance made from soya beans; and for a kind of fruit preserve of which lemon curd is the archetype (and which may also be described as a ‘cheese’, especially when made with damsons). In India the name curd is often used to mean yoghurt.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
