This Is The Reason Cheese Curds Squeak When You Eat Them

One of life's most unique pleasures is hearing the sound of certain foods. According to HuffPost, some of the most soothing food sounds include bacon sizzling on a hot skillet, beer or another fizzy drink being poured into a glass (which explains the concessions-themed montage played before every movie), and popcorn popping, another call to movie theater nostalgia. 

But sounds from food can also have a way of getting on people's nerves. As Delish points out, small things like someone crunching on ice in a silent room, loudly chewing on some Laffy Taffy, or slurping a bowl of soup can drive some people practically to the brink. But there's another noisy food to add to this list. HuffPost doesn't mention it as a sound that satisfies and Delish doesn't call it out as a source of auditory ire, but it must be acknowledged that cheese curds have an odd way of squeaking when you bite into them. What causes this strange phenomenon, one might ask? Read on and find out!

In honor of the upcoming National Cheese Curd Day, which falls on October 15 according to National Today, Wisconsin Cheese dug into some interesting facts about this oft-fried dairy delight. As the site notes, cheese curds are small, mild balls of cheese that, as a young cheddar, can come in any color from white to orange. They have a mild "milky and salty" flavor to them, and their texture is described as "squeaky". What makes these babies squeal? 

According to Wisconsin Cheese and other sources like Dan and Debbie's Creamery, the secret to this sound is all in the elastic protein strands. When the strands rub against your teeth, the enamel of your teeth making contact with the protein in the curds creates a sound akin to a small squeak. The sites both also noted that freshness plays a role here. After a few days in the fridge, the squeak will start to simmer down, but if you're team cheese curd squeal, Dan and Debbie recommend popping them into the microwave for a few seconds, which should return it to proper noise-making form! So, who else is planning to buy some loud cheese for the national holiday?