Are Cheese Curds And Cottage Cheese The Same Thing?

You already know cottage cheese ... and you may even love cottage cheese (although this is one food that can be a bit polarizing). We mean the creamy low-fat snack that's sometimes mixed with a fruit topping, and even had a social media moment in 2023 thanks to TikTok. But have you ever met cottage cheese's close relative, cheese curds? These little chunks of dairy are popular throughout some parts of the United States, and unlike cottage cheese, they are best enjoyed fresh — within 24 hours of being made, in fact.

While they look somewhat similar, cottage cheese and curds aren't entirely the same thing (well, they sort of are). Curds are basically a very young version of cheese, and cottage cheese is simply those same curds mixed with cream. So while cottage cheese always contains curds, what we know as "cheese curds" can stand up on their own. (Sort of like how a bisque or chowder is always a soup, but a soup isn't always a bisque or chowder.) Read on to learn more about these clumpy-but-delightful dairy products and how to enjoy them.

A staple in the Midwestern U.S., cheese curds are very young pieces of cheddar cheese — and are very squeaky when you bite into them, thanks to their unique combination of proteins. While their exact origins are unknown, some say they can be traced back to ancient Rome, when people would take dairy curds and fry them, creating a dish called globuli.

The cheddar you know and love involves taking the curds and separating them from their whey (a liquid by-product that naturally occurs during cheesemaking) in order to press them, mold them into wheels, age them, and so on. Cheese curds are made by performing that same separation, but then taking the curds and chopping them up into even smaller pieces. They're then eaten as-is.

While cheese curds are ubiquitous in states like Wisconsin due to the region's abundance of dairy farms, they're also wildly popular throughout in some other parts of the world. Take Quebec, Canada for example. One of their signature dishes, poutine, is made by topping french fries with curds and brown gravy. If you want to get your Midwest on, though, enjoying some fresh curds with a glass of beer is widely accepted as proper cheese curd ettiquete. You can also batter and fry them up, use them to top a pizza, or even toss them into a salad.

Cottage cheese, on the other hand, is essentially fresh cheese curds mixed with cream — which is why it has that signature chunky texture. Unlike cheese curds, cottage cheese is not related to the cheddar-making process — it's a soft cheese in the same un-aged category as ricotta, mozzarella, mascarpone, feta, goat cheese, and cream cheese.

Cottage cheese is believed to have roots in ancient Mesopotamia as far back as 3,000 B.C., when a similar product was made by the old society. Cottage cheese is also thought to be the first cheese made in America, thanks to European immigrants who brought over their traditions of making fresh farmhouse cheese with soured milk. By the mid-1800s, the name "cottage cheese" was slapped onto this protein-packed fresh cheese.

How do you use it, though? Well, you can eat cottage cheese just as it is for a low-fat snack, but there are also tons of unexpected ways to use cottage cheese, like adding it to a smoothie, melting it into a quesadilla, or even using cottage cheese in scrambled eggs. If you can't get around the curd-y texture, try blending it until completely smooth to stir into the creamiest tomato soup.