curd / kərd/ • n. 1. (also curds) a soft, white substance formed when milk sours, used as the basis for cheese. ∎  a fatty substance found between the flakes of poached salmon.2. the edible head of a cauliflower or similar plant.DERIVATIVES: curd·y adj.

curd The solid component produced by the coagulation of milk during the manufacture of cheese. After being pasteurized, milk is cooled down and a culture of lactic acid bacteria is added to ferment the milk sugar, lactose, to lactic acid. The resulting decrease in pH causes casein, a milk protein, to coagulate, a process known as curdling. The solid curds are then separated from the liquid component, known as whey, and inoculated with different types of microbes to produce different cheeses.

curd coagulated substance formed from milk. XIV. ME. crud(de), crod(de); the present form dates from XV; of unkn. orig., but Gael., (M)Ir. gruth curds have been plausibly compared.
Hence curd vb. curdle XIV. curdle form into curd(s). XVI; see -LE 2.