Food Encyclopedia

farmstead

A term used primarily in the world of cheese to describe cheeses that are produced on a single farm from milk that comes exclusively from that farmer's animals. The cheese is typically made in small batches by artisanal methods with high-quality ingredients, which translates in the marketplace to better quality and higher cost. Artisinal cheese differs in the respect that the milk can come from the animals of other farms, though many artisan cheesemakers use their own animals for milk. Although the term farmstead is commonly used in the United States, in Europe the synonym is farmhouse.