Say cheese! || Stracciatella: Burrata's soft heart

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Italy Food-Roadtrip: the story of Burrata and Stracciatella

Andria, Altamura, Puglia; Matera, Basilicata 

Stracciatella is not just a kind of gelato, it is also a type of cheese and more precisely, a cheese made with the soft heart of Burrata (yeah, you heard it right!).

It is made of soft "fibres" of mozzarella and of fresh cream, and tastes deliciously refreshing and creamy, with a tiny point of acidity. It is produced in Puglia, Basilicata and Molise, generally with cow milk but can also be made with bufala milk. 

Stracciatella's best pairings :

If you manage to resist and you don't eat it all raw right after you buy it, it is delicious if paired with zucchini, to fill zucchini flowers, on aubergines, on any kind of pasta (but people from Puglia would recommend Orecchiette or Strascinate, if you have Orecchiette di Grano arso - burnt wheat - it is even better !).

Needless to say, stracciatella at its climax is on Bruschette! Here: Pane di Altamura (Slow Food presidium - will talk about this marvel one day I promise! ), stracciatella, cold pressed olive oil from Puglia and roasted breadcrumbs. Nothing else. I had this bruschette in Matera, at Materia Prima Bistrot ( http://www.materiaprimabistrot.it/). This tiny cozy place has been created not so long ago by Marilia, a sparking young woman from Puglia, building culinary bridges from her region to her new home.

Wanna play it more fancy? Serve your bruschetta it with a sauce made with carosello cucumbers (see the last post for the whole story of caroselli), oil and pepper, all mixed to prepare a sort of guacamole to put on a side, served very cold. Marilia invented this recipe and she gave me a little cup of this sauce to try on a side while I was eating my bruschette...which ended up covered with this carosello sauce! 

Stracciatella goes perfectly with a white wine. I'd stay south of Italy and suggest pairing it with Falanghine or Fiano, but I am pretty sure it can go very well also with a Friulano from the Collio Region or a french Chablis. 

The romantic legend of stracciatella's older sister and a global praise to Mr. Bianchino 

Well, I was supposed to just talk about stracciatella, but I guess her older sister burrata, and especially IGP protected Burrata di Andria, deserves at least a mention.

You would never believe it, but as the IGP label protocol says, Burrata di Andria, was once originally produced to use the mozzarella leftovers. Mr. Lorenzo Bianchino -- THIS GENIUS !! he should have a statue !! - started to prepare it at the beginning of 1900 in its masseria. It consists, indeed, of a shell of pasta filata ( spun paste) cheese hiding a humid and rich stuffing of cream and stracciatella, pasta filata cheese cut into stripes. The result is a smooth, bone-white sphere. The story, or legend, of Mr. Bianchino is actually a good exemple of country wisdom. It says that after a snow storm he was unable to transport his milk and cream to the village on time, thus he decided to try to keep it by using a method that farmers already used to keep butter. Butter was wrapped with spun cheese paste in order to be kept for longer periods, and Mr. Bianchino did the same with his cream, but decided to add some leftover stripes of cheese into the stuffing.

Information:

> IGP protocol of Burrata di Andria, officially established in 2017 https://www.politicheagricole.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/0%252Fc%252F5%252FD.a8ba9b56c97b2cb94af4/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3340/E/pdf 

> The nicest bistrot in Matera ;) - Materia Prima
Via San Biagio, 37, 75100 Matera - Tel. +39320 701 9634

> Where to buy the best Burrata di Andria:

Caseificio Montrone
Via Corato 391/411, Andria- Tel. 0883.541435

Sanguedolce
S.ple Andria-Trani km 02, Andria - Tel. 0883.599587

Caseificio Andriese "Bontà Genuina"
Via Andria 133, Barletta - Tel. 0883.535656

Caseificio Fratelli Simone
Via Saverio Mercadante 41, Andria - Tel. 0883.598017

Caseificio Fratelli Nuzzi
Via Montegrappa 99, Andria - Tel. 0883.590359

Caseificio Michele Olanda
Via Santa Maria dei Miracoli 150, Andria - Tel. 0883.551810