🧀 Burrata

Burrata is an Italian cow's milk cheese from Apulia: a casing of pasta filata (stretched curd) enclosing a filling of cream mixed with shredded pasta filata, called stracciatella. It emerged in Apulia at the start of the 20th century and for a long time was eaten mostly there. ⁵

Italy listed burrata as a traditional agricultural product of Apulia in 2002, and the EU protects the variety Burrata di Andria as a PGI. ⁵ The filling is pasta filata shredded by hand and drenched in cream; the cream is separated from milk or fresh whey in a centrifuge and pasteurised: at least 75 °C for 40 seconds at 10–20 % fat, at least 80 °C for 20 seconds at 20 % or more; ready-made pasteurised or UHT cream is also allowed. ^{6 1}

The cheese is round, shaped like a sack with a bunched-up closure, milk-white, with a casing at least about 2 mm thick. It weighs from 100 g to 1 000 g. The moisture range was widened from 60–70 % to 50–70 % in 2020. When sliced, the cream spills out. ¹⁴

According to the specification, oral tradition says Burrata di Andria was invented by Lorenzo Bianchino on an estate in the first decades of the 20th century. ¹ Today it is served with tomatoes, basil, olive oil and fresh bread, and with salads, pizza and pasta. Researchers are working on longer shelf life and lower-fat versions. ⁵

Why it matters to you. Burrata is a fresh product that deteriorates rapidly: the specification requires packaging where it is made and storage at 4 ± 2 °C, so buy it close to the date and eat it soon. ⁶ Only "Burrata di Andria" with the PGI mark guarantees production in Apulia to this specification. ¹