To help curd-loving fans across the country, and to support our partners at the Oregon Food Bank, we released the curds to our Online Shop for one day only on our 104th birthday! Squeaky Cheese Curds are highly perishable and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days, so we’ve never been able to facilitate shipping them on a daily basis before. In order to ship these squeak-packed bags of curds, the Tillamook Marketing team took several days away from our regular jobs to personally hand-pack and ship orders from the Tillamook Cheese Factory! Here are some photos from our adventures in shipping Squeaky Cheese Curds.

Here come the curds! The curds we sent were taken fresh out of the vat at 6am (boy, was it early!) so we had time to pack all the boxes.

Good morning! We shipped brand-squeaking fresh curds with overnight shipping, to ensure optimal squeak when they arrived at their final destination.

Here are some empty boxes, waiting for their curds! Each box of curds was handpacked with two bags of curds, an ice pack, a packing slip, and lots of love.

Here’s our UPS truck, squeak-packed with our first day’s shipment of cheese curd orders.

We had a fun time packing all 700+ orders of cheese curds! Thanks again for supporting Tillamook and celebrating our 104th birthday. We hope you can visit us soon at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where you can get cheese curds all year round.

Yours cheesefully,
The Squeaky Cheese Team

By Katie

Celebrate our 104^th birthday with us by munching on Squeaky Cheese Curds fresh from the Tillamook Cheese Factory. For today only, we’re opening the vats and releasing Squeaky Cheese Curds on the Online Shop. Supplies are limited, so get ‘em while they squeak! Funds raised will benefit the Oregon Food Bank to support hunger relief.

Order your tasty curds here!

By Callie

Here are the top 5 Miss Muffet approved cheese curd recipes!

Bacon and Cheese Curd Grilled Cheese
This tasty find from Food & Wine is right up our alley!  Grilled cheese with bacon, sharp cheddar, and cheese curds!

Photo courtesy of © Fredrika Stjärne

Grilled Cheese Curd Panzanella
Tuscan bread salad, I would like to introduce you to Tillamook Cheese Curds! A match made in cheese heaven! Buon appetite!

Photo courtesy of Nick Kindelsperger

Fried Cheese Curds
We put our squeeky spin on this recipe from Simple Comfort Food. Fried + Cheese = delicious!

Poutine
There seems to be a little confusion as to where poutine was first invented. Regardless, whoever came up with this gravy smothered mound of deliciousness is a culinary genius in my eyes!

Cheese Curd Quesadilla
Quick, delicious, and squeeky!  A great combination!

Photo courtesy of AwakeAtTheWhisk.com

By Candace

Poutine is arguably my guiltiest, gooiest food pleasure. What is poutine, you ask? It’s a Canadian dish that consists of French fries, covered in cheese curds, drowned in gravy. Is this “poutine” you in a good mood yet? I’ve often sampled poutine from food carts in Portland, but had never thought to make it myself! This recipe is frighteningly easy to make – try it for an afternoon snack or appetizer.

Tips:
1. I thickened my sauce too much – a slightly runnier sauce will help cover all the fries
2. You can make it with vegetarian broth in the gravy (like I did!), but beef or chicken stock work just as well
3. Try adding herbs to the gravy for some extra flavor!

Ingredients
4 Russet potatoes, cut into short, thin strips
Ice and cold water for ice bath
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Tillamook Salted Butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef or vegetable broth
2 cups Tillamook Squeaky Cheese Curds

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Wash and dry the potatoes. Leave the skins on and cut them into short, thin strips. Place the potato strips into a large bowl filled with ice water (tip: this removes some of the starch so your fries come out crispier!). Take the potatoes out of the water after 15 minutes and spread them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes until golden and crispy, turning occasionally.

While they bake, heat the butter and flour in a medium saucepan on low-medium heat. Once it starts to foam, gradually add broth (I used vegetable, but beef works too!), stirring with a wire whisk between additions. Once all the vegetable broth is in the saucepan, bring to a slow boil. Reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until the gravy has thickened and then remove from heat.

Once the French fries have cooked, remove them from the oven and place onto a serving plate. Top with Squeaky Cheese Curds and pour gravy over top. Serve warm and try not to stuff yourself!

By Katie

Over the years, we’ve heard countless stories of curd-lovers driving for hours to the Tillamook Cheese Factory just to get their Squeaky Cheese Curds. Because of the short shelf life and to maintain the freshness and quality of Tillamook Cheese Curds, they are normally sold exclusively at the Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon… but if you’re a curd-lover, we’ve got great news!

In honor of our 104^th birthday, we’re releasing the curds on February 13 for one day only! There will be a limited supply of Squeaky Cheese Curds for sale on our Online Shop! Squeaky Cheese Curd Day will benefit the Oregon Food Bank in supporting hunger relief. Click here to learn more!

This is so exciting! But why can’t Tillamook ship cheese curds every day?
Squeaky Cheese Curds are extremely perishable, and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days. Because of this, cheese curds require overnight shipping very quickly after they are made, which we cannot facilitate on a daily basis. To make sure curd-lovers around the country are able to get fresh curds to celebrate Squeaky Cheese Day, the Tillamook marketing team will actually be taking several days away from their regular jobs to personally hand-pack and ship your order from the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We wish we could spread cheese curd joy all the time, but for now, you can satisfy year-long cravings for cheese curds by visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR.

What is a cheese curd?
Cheese curds are created at the very beginning of the cheddaring process, when small pieces of cheddar cheese separate from the liquid whey naturally found in milk. These “curds” are usually then pressed together to form 40 lbs. blocks of our cheddars that will go on to naturally age for up to three years. However, we do save a small amount of the fresh curds to be sold at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. They taste mild and salty, and when they’re really fresh they make a slight “squeak” noise when you eat them! Try them for yourself on Squeaky Cheese Day!

What makes a cheese curd “squeaky”?
The squeak you might hear when you munch on cheese curds comes from the protein composition of fresh curds. When the protein in the cheese rubs against the enamel of your teeth it makes a “squeaky” sound. As cheddar ages, more moisture is released in the form of whey, and the protein in the cheese consolidates. Here at Tillamook, this consolidation is how cheese curds turn into Baby Loafs! That’s why our other cheddars (and curds older than a few days) don’t squeak! The cheese is still delicious to eat after it has stopped squeaking, but the squeak effect will be gone forever for that little curd.

Find out how you can get your squeaky cheese fix!

Get cooking with our Top 5 Cheese Curd recipes here!

P.S. You can follow the conversation about Squeaky Cheese Day with #ReleaseTheCurds on Twitter!

By Tillamook

The football season is fully underway and tomorrow Oregon State University takes on Wisconsin. Football reminds me of a lot of things! The Fall, tailgaters, burgers, and hometown pride are just a few! With Oregon State (the same state that’s home to Tillamook Cheese) and Wisconsin (that other cheese state) playing each other, I can’t think of a better game to center a party around. The TV is set, the football fans have been invited, and all that’s left is to plan the menu.

The party theme is clearly cheese! Cheese dips, cheeseburgers, nachos, and cheesy chilli will all line the counter but for this party, something special is in order. In the world of cheese, it’s possible there’s nothing more coveted than Tillamook Cheese Curds. Exclusively sold at The Cheese Factory in Tillamook, I’ve made a special trip to pick up a few bags of these squeaky treats.

Cheese curds happen to be delicious when eaten plain so I’ve placed some straight from the bag into a bowl. For the ones left over, I had fried cheese curds in mind. I used a recipe provided by Simple Comfort Food substituting Wisconsin cheese curds for my very own Tillamook ones!! The crunchy beer batter along side the gooey cheese curds makes the perfect pair and yes, even fried, they still squeaked! I had to try them out before game day (a benefit of being the chef) and that means a large portion are now missing! Good thing I bought four bags!

I don’t know which team will win, but I think it’s clear; in a head to head battle against Wisconsin, Oregon’s Tillamook is sure to come out the winner.

By Kelly