I figured it was a dairy product. I won’t spoil the surprise to anyone who might read the thread before clicking the link.

I discovered “cheese” curds, in Wisconsin.
I’m guessing that like the cheese, the “curd” is nasty stuff floating on top of other stuff.

Not sure but I would imagine that the curds are the solid part and the whey is the liquid remaining in some kind of dairy fermentation process.

And to expand on the OP, just what is the “tuffet” upon which Ms Muffet sat?

curds are the congealed protocheese bits in the initial stages of cheese production. whey is the liquid that remains.

It’s cottage cheese.

My mother told me that when I was a little girl learning to recite nursery rhymes.

My Mom always told me that it was simply put…cottage cheese. I have since learned that when people make their own cheese that the curd is the solids that separates from the milk & the whey is the almost clear liquid that separates from the curd. The curd is then collected & put into a mold where the curd is compressed together to form a wheel or block of cheese. The whey is often fed to the pigs when living on a farm.

(Leave it to the German space alien lolita to educate us about what English nursery rhyme words mean.)

Cottage cheese for the win!

Years ago I was looking at ingredient labels on everything I ate, and was stunned to see how many things have whey in it.

cottage cheese…with a little pepper and celery salt sprinkled on it….mmmmm

Curds are cheese and whey is the leftover milk product that is practically water.

A lot of people said cottage cheese above, but in my mind curds can be many different types of cheeses. Maybe Miss Muffet was eating cottage cheese, but if you order friend cheese curds in a restaurant I’m pretty sure the cheese is cheddar or maybe mozzarella.

Grocery store cottage cheese isn’t much like the kind that you can make in your kitchen because it has lots of additives. I’m fairly certain I’d like the homemade variety better, and I bet it would be more nutritious.

Well. Cottage cheese? ALL this time?
I’m a large curd, 2% guy.

Typo sbove: fried not friend.

I’m up at 3:00 in the morning and googled a little.

This is about the very specific cheese curd laws in Wisconsin, USA. https://www.allrecipes.com/article/things-you-dont-know-about-cheese-curds/#:~:text=A%20cheese%20curd%20isn't,to%20be%20sold%20right%20away.

This is an example of Mozzarella cheese curds https://www.belgioioso.com/foodservice/p/1-20-lb-mozzarella-curd-ph-5-70/

It seems to me curds are simply very young cheese.

I always thought curds and whey were the result of mixing milk with some vinegar. It’s not exactly cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese.

Okay, I did not read the other responses before putting my own, but I think I always pictured it as some sort of oatmeal? Which never seemed appealing to me because I did not like oatmeal as a kid. We always had to have it in the winter months for breakfast and our mom would maybe let us put a little sugar in it but it was never enough. And this was before the days of packets with cinnamon or brown sugar or apples.

Okay, now I’ve read the other responses and I realize how far off the mark I was! And in my mind, that would have been even worse because I hate cottage cheese! Sorry to all those above, but I always thought it looked like throw up, and had a similar texture! If a spider had came and sat down beside me, I might have been glad for the distraction from the cottage cheese! :-D

This one is in the dictionary.

@SnipSnip And also in the link that the OP provided. But people are having fun guessing.

Currently residing in Wisconsin, I can say cottage cheese is curds, but not all curds are cottage cheese.

Groceries and gas stations here tout their fresh squeaky curds. Squeaky? Yes. Squeaky means fresh.

Much more here: Wisconsin Cheese dot com – Why Do Cheese Curds Squeak?

^^Glad a Wisconsinite joined in. Maybe at the time of the rhyme cottage cheese was called curds and whey, but in today’s terms in the US the word curd is used for many young cheeses.

Whey is used as an ingredient in more packaged foods than you might think. Especially dairy foods like ricotta cheese, yogurt, and some foods you might not guess.

There’s a Culver’s restaurant in my state that serves “cheese curds”. I never have and never will order them. I like cottage cheese very much but the term “curds” turns me off. but their frozen custard is to die for!

@smudges I haven’t had them at Culver’s, but at Culver’s they are basically breaded young cheddar and deep fried. Similar to breaded mozzarella. They are probably delicious. Not like cottage cheese at all. I hate cottage cheese, but I like fried cheese curds.

^^ If that’s what they are, I think I’d like them!

If you try them I hipe you report back to us. I have no idea if they are very good at Culver’s, but they are usually good at restaurants that I have had them.

@Call_Me_Jay That was one of the selling points I heard Wisconsonites say about quality cheese curds. “They give you squeaky teeth.”

These very nice person also told me cheese curds were “healthy.”

They eat cow brains up there “aye?”

@MrGrimm888
Haven’t encountered it in Wisconsin.I have heard cow brains were a St. Louis MO thing.

^My bad. Just something I heard.