The History of Burrata

Burrata originated in the 1920s on the outskirts of the Italian city of Andria, located in the Apulia region. More specifically, it was created by a cheesemaker named Lorenzo Bianchino Chieppa at Masseria Bianchini, a farmhouse close to Castel del Monte. Notably, this information comes from in-depth interviews with local residents. While there is no written evidence of Lorenzo’s claim (and there are even some rival burrata makers in Andria who claim that they invented the cheese), credit for the invention of burrata is widely given to Lorenzo. According to several sources, the cheese was created as a way to make use of the leftovers from the cheesemaking process, namely, cream formed from the morning milking and leftover mozzarella pieces. The finished product was typically sold at the market and wrapped in leaves for protection. Most buyers were wealthy and burrata is still considered a luxury cheese today. The term “burrata” was first used in the 1931 edition of the Guida Gastronomica D’Italia, an inventory of Italian regional recipes published by the Italian Touring Club. In the 1980s, Angela Asseliti, another Andria native, invented burratina, a bite-sized version of burrata. In 2018, several local cheesemakers banded together to protect the traditional craft of burrata-making by creating an Indication of Geographic Protection (IGP) called Burrata di Andria IGP. While burrata is now popular all over the world and made in many different places around the globe, Apulia still offers the most authentic version.