Burrata
Flavour Profile
A pouch of fresh mozzarella filled with cream and shredded curd. The outside is mild and milky, the inside is lush and almost buttery.
It should taste of fresh cream and grass, with no sharpness or sourness.
Health Benefits
Higher in fat than regular mozzarella because of the cream filling.
Good protein and calcium. Best treated as an indulgence cheese rather than an everyday one.
Buying Tips
Check the date and buy the freshest you can find. Burrata is at its best within a few days of being made.
It should be sitting in a little water or whey, plump and intact. Any tears in the pouch and the cream has already started leaking.
Storage
Keep in the fridge in its liquid, and eat within two to three days of opening.
Do not freeze. Do not cook it. Burrata is a fresh cheese — heat ruins it instantly.
Cooking Uses
Torn over ripe tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and basil. That's the dish.
Also brilliant on top of a hot pizza right out of the oven, on grilled bread with prosciutto, or alongside roasted figs and honey.
Forkin Food Theory
Burrata is mozzarella's clever cousin. It's made by forming a thin pouch of stretched mozzarella curd, then stuffing it with stracciatella — shreds of mozzarella soaked in cream.
When you cut it open, the filling spills out like a sauce. The pouch holds shape, the inside delivers richness. Two textures in one bite.
It was invented in the 1950s in Puglia, supposedly as a way to use up leftover mozzarella scraps and cream.
Wild & Wonderful
Burrata literally means "buttered" in Italian.
It was traditionally wrapped in green asphodel leaves, and the freshness of the leaves told you the freshness of the cheese — wilted leaves meant the burrata was past its best.
These days it comes in plastic, which is more reliable but a lot less romantic.