Burrata
Beginner
🧀 Photo slot
A fresh cheese with cream inside a mozzarella pouch — the burst is the magic.
TasteGentle milky sweetness and rich cream; very mild and soft. The shell tastes like plain mozzarella and the middle like cream, so a bite has to take both to taste like burrata at all.
TextureA springy mozzarella pouch outside, flowing cream inside. That filling is 'stracciatella' — mozzarella curd stretched in hot water, torn by hand into rags, and dropped into fresh cream, which is why you feel threads in it.
Similar cheeses
How it differsThe shell is mozzarella, but it is filled with cream and shredded curd, which makes it its own product. That is why it cannot be treated like mozzarella — heat splits the filling. Ricotta, made from whey, neither stretches nor runs. Where mozzarella is an ingredient, this is closer to a finished dish.
Pairing
🍷 WineLight white, sparkling
🍽️ FoodTomato, olive oil, basil, baguette, peach
How to enjoy
Take it out 20 minutes ahead, then cut it open at the table — the cream runs best right then, and cutting it early just lets it spread. Salt, olive oil, bread and tomato is enough; peach or prosciutto works too. Don't cook it: heat splits the cream.
What to look for
Check the production date first — this is eaten within about ten to twelve days of being made, and freshness is the whole point of the price. A skin that has dried and firmed up, or any sour edge to the smell, means it is past. The best way to buy burrata is to decide when you are eating it and buy it for that day.
Storage
Refrigerate in its water or package at 2–4°C and eat it within a day or two. Freezing splits the cream for good. It is a fresh cheese, so if you see mould, throw the whole thing out rather than cutting it away — the moisture means it may already have spread inside.
⏳ AgingNone — eaten fresh (5–7 days from production at the outside)
Good to know
Named from 'burro' (butter). It began in Andria in Puglia, and cheese made the local way carries the name 'Burrata di Andria' (IGP). The original point was thrift — leftover scraps of mozzarella curd, saved in cream instead of thrown away.