The $4.49 ALDI "Baby Cheese" You Have To Try
This new ALDI product is the milkiest, creamiest, freshest tasting "baby cheese" you'll ever try.
Cheese curds are big in Wisconsin where I live. People drive to cheese factories all over the state to get them fresh, and plenty of grocery stores, farmers markets, and gas stations sell them. Gas stations even put out signs when they’ve got a fresh load of curds.
So, I was so excited to see that ALDI is sharing our beloved state treat with the nation with its new Happy Farms Cheese Curds.
How Are Cheese Curds Made?
For those who aren’t as familiar with cheese curds, let me introduce you to this dairy-licious delicacy.
Cheese curds are like baby cheese. If you’re making cheese—any cheese—the initial curds form after the cheesemaker adds rennet and bacterial cultures, but those aren’t the cheese curds you’re eating. After the initial curds form, they’re gathered and stacked in a process called "cheddaring," during which more whey is pressed out.
These stacks of curds are either placed into cheese forms (where they age and become cheese), or they’re cut into curds, which are then sold in bags everywhere in Wisconsin. Sometimes, flavors are added, but mostly the curds are sold as-is.
Cheese curds are the milkiest, creamiest, freshest tasting baby cheese you’ll ever try, and Happy Farms white cheddar curds are especially good.
Why I Love ALDI's Happy Farms Cheese Curds
If you follow the directions on the bag—and it’s so very Wisconsin of them to do so—ALDI suggests letting the curds warm up to room temperature or warming them up in the microwave for five seconds.
This is because the fresher and warmer the curds, the more they will squeak as you chew them. That’s right. These babies are so fresh they squeak.
The new Happy Farms cheese curds are sold in 12-ounce bags (12 servings, but any good Wisconsinite could finish the whole bag in one go) for $4.49. They come in different flavors—I tried white cheddar, garlic white cheddar, and Cajun orange cheddar.
Oh, they are so, so good. My personal favorite was the plain white cheddar—so creamy, so milky so sweet. They were so good by themselves that they didn’t need the adornment of any other flavors. I also liked the garlic and the Cajun-flavored curds, but hands down, the best was the plain white cheddar. My husband liked the Cajun because he likes spice, and my son said if they weren’t gouda, they weren’t gouda-enough for him to try (he’s a weird Wisconsinite that way).
As any Wisconsinite would say, I think they’re great by themselves as a snack, but you can also batter them and fry them because fried cheese curds are an unforgettable delicacy. You can also toss them into omelets, add them to mac 'n cheese, and use them to top potatoes.
Basically, use them any way you’d use shredded cheddar—they’re just milder and fresher. However, if you’re planning to cook with them, you might need to get a second or third bag just to make sure you have enough because once you taste them, the bag will disappear before you know it.
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