Washed curd
Removing some whey from the vat and replacing it with water, giving a sweeter, more supple cheese such as Gouda.
Also: curd washing, washed-curd cheese
In a washed-curd cheese, part of the whey is drawn off the vat partway through making and replaced with warm water. This rinses lactose out of the curd, so less lactic acid can form later, and the finished cheese is sweeter, milder, smoother and more elastic than one made without washing. Gouda, Edam, Havarti, Colby, Port-Salut and many Dutch, Danish and monastery cheeses are made this way. The temperature of the added water also warms and firms the curd. Washed-curd cheeses age well into dense, caramel-sweet old Goudas. The term is easily confused with washed rind, which refers to treating the outside of the cheese, not the curd.