In the United States, farmer cheese (also farmer's cheese or farmers' cheese) is pressed cottage cheese, an unripened cheese made by adding rennet and bacterial starter to coagulate and acidify milk. Farmer cheese may be made from the milk of cows, sheep or goats, with each giving its own texture and flavor.
During coagulation the mixture separates into curds (solid) and whey (liquid), then the whey is drained off. Further pressing out of the moisture yields the malleable solid results of pot cheese, while even more pressing makes farmer cheese, which is solid, dry and crumbly.
Farmer cheese is often used for fillings in blintzes, pierogi and other foods. It is sometimes rolled in a mixture of herbs and flavorings or wrapped in very thin slices of flavorful smoked meats. It can also be used as a spread on bread.
Many similar varieties of fresh cheese are produced worldwide.
In the Upper Midwest of the US, farmer's cheese is a semi-soft white cheese made from part-skim milk.
In Canada the term farmer's cheese means a kind of hard, rindless white cheese which is firm but springy in texture with a mild, milky and buttery flavor which may be used in a way likened to colby or cheddar.
In Mexico and several other Latin American countries, a local variety of farmer cheese is known as queso blanco.
Farmer's cheese is called wagashi or waagashi (pronounced: waa-ga-she) in Ghana and wagasi in Benin. It is made by Fulani women using grass-fed cow milk and Xylopia aethiopica leaves and its supple stems as the curdling agent. Waagashi may be eaten raw. Due to its ability to resist melting upon contact with heat, it is often fried and eaten with a spicy peanut powder or used in vegetarian soups and stews in the same way as tofu or paneer. Waagashi that is salted, baked, smoked or grilled has added flavor and a longer shelf life.