In Martina Franca there is even a burrata bar and in the Murgia area between Barletta and Brindisi there are at least thirty dairies that boast superlative burrata. But we are in Puglia and burrata, that is that particularly tasty dairy product that has a rounded shape and an appearance similar to mozzarella with the characteristic apex closure but only externally because inside it has a soft, creamy and stringy heart, the so-called stracciatella, is at home. .
For some time the burrata has been on the Italian tables but now we are witnessing an unstoppable trend and not only in our country.
There is no menu abroad, between France and Germany in particular, that doesn't have burrata
and tomatoes or burrata and ham
among the starters
.
The burrata was born in
Andria
. As often happens, it was a bizarre fate to give birth. Legend has it that the origins date back to 1956, the year of the exceptional snowfall. It was impossible to bring milk to the city from the farms.
So, in order not to waste it, it was necessary to transform it. On that occasion, the Andriese dairyman Lorenzo Bianchino who worked in the Piana Padula farm, where they traditionally prepared spun curd cheeses filled with butter called
manteche
, now truly unobtainable, had the idea of creating a "bag" of pasta filata in which to enclose the frays made of the same dough, dipped in the cream that emerged from the milk (the so-called
stracciatella
); closed everything and carefully modeled the mouth giving it the characteristic apical shape. Thus was born the first Burrata di Andria, one of the most precious and particular dairy products of Puglia, today an IGP product.
This stringy cheese typical of the Puglia region is also produced in much of the south. Initially it was not easy to find it outside the region, as freshness is an essential feature as well as its easy perishability, in a couple of days, but for some years fashion has wanted it on the table everywhere,
gaining ground in the favor of consumers compared to buffalo mozzarella
which for a long time was the most requested.
Large-scale distribution has also noticed this trend and many industrial brands have been offering it for a few months in supermarket refrigerators.
Burrata can be used to dress cold pasta summer salads, or plain seasoned with a drizzle of olive oil and accompanied by seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes and green leafy salads.
We talk about it because
the trend has exploded in pizza becoming one of the most popular dishes of the summer 2021
. In Puglia it is a classic but now it is exported everywhere and the variations are also beginning but the common characteristic is that on the pizza the 150, 200 gr burratina, in the imperial versions even from 350, reigns whole in the center, raw, fresh, tempting, ready to be cut. around tomato and basil, or anchovies, courgette flowers, capocollo, raw ham, speck rocket, with pistachio grains and so on and so forth, it is important that it is queen in the center.
Burrata, considered a fresh cheese because it does not mature, has a high caloric value, 450 kcal per 100 grams of product, and it is therefore recommended to consume it in small quantities. However difficult it is to resist it.