So I’m not entirely sure how it started.  Or where.  Or when.  Maybe Rachael Ray shrieked about it on her show one day.

No. I will not use shredded cheese or tomatillos on anything.

Or was it on a previous cover of Food & Wine Magazine?  Maybe?  Last summer?  All I know is that right now, everyone’s favorite designer cheese is the Italian classic: Burrata.  It’s sort of like this season’s French Bulldog of the cheeseworld (and when did everyone get one of those smash faced, snub tailed snorters?  Damn, they’re cute but why did everyone have to go out and get out?)  Hoardes of people come waltzing into the shop, acting like Scarlett O’Hara, waving and blowing kisses to an adoring mass of fans and stop square in front of the case and demand the product.

So, I figured I’d give the reading online masses a little brief on the history of burrata so that when you sit at home in front of your A/C, pop in “Heathers,” crack open a bottle of something sparkling and alcoholic and go about mowing down on an entire ball of burrata, you’ll know what you’re getting into.

So what is this mysterious “burrata” that everyone in Williamsburg craves?

Burrata is basically a hollowed out ball of mozzarella that has been filled with mini-mozzarella shreds and cream.  It is then wrapped in asphodel leaves, which are distant relatives to the leek.  (Also in Greek legend, it’s believed that the asphodel has a strong connection to the underworld.  It was also thought to be a remedy for poisonous snake bites, against sorcery, and as food for poor Greeks!)  The leaves are an indicator as to how fresh the cheese is.  The greener the leaves, the fresher the burrata. It’s super rich and decadent and goes great with tomatoes, prosciutto, fresh cracked pepper, and light summer wines.

So onto the history.

Burrata dates back to the dawn of time.  We are thinking mid-Mesozoic era.

Ugh. This show totally ruled.

Just kidding.  Burrata is actually one of the few cheeses that we are able to pinpoint to a particular time and place on a specific Italian farm.  It’s also a relatively new cheese – which may explain it’s recent rocket launch to the top of cheese popularity.

Burrata was first made about 90 years ago in the Italian town of Andria, which is in the Murgia area, which is part of the the Southeastern region of Apulia (this is like some Lord of the Rings shit right here).  Originally made on the Bianchini family farm, burrata was at first  just a really good local cheese made from the milk of their most cuddly and cute water buffalo.  (JK.  Water buffalo are huge. And smelly and actually kind of terrifying.  God bless anyone who has to milk these jerks.)

The heel of Italy never tasted so good.

Today, you can find burrata made from both cow and buffalo milk (the one we carry at BCS is made of cow’s milk), but originally it came from water buffalo.  Water buffalo milk is usually richer and higher in protein than cow’s milk, yielding a fattier, richer, more delicious product.  Also, buffalo milk doesn’t have carotene in it, which is a yellow pigment often found in cow’s milk.  Therefore, fresh buffalo milk cheeses will always be PURE WHITE.  How’s that for supremacy?  But, the only problem is that buffalo milk cheeses tend to be twice as expensive as any others.  Mainly because of the white thing.  I can’t make this kind of thing up, people.

Anywho, back to the legend of Burrata from the Bianchini Farm in the town of Andria in the area of Murgia in the region of Apulia.  (I’m telling you.  Lord of the Rings.)  So it was just a humble farmstead cheese.  Then, in the post WW2 factory boom where food and everything went all factory on us, a couple of factories started making burrata.  It became popular in factories that also made mozzarella, because it meant that all of the scraps of the mozzarella could be used.  Nothing would go to waste!  So these factories would fill their hollow balls of mozzarella with “ritagli” (or “rags”) that were left over from earlier mozzarella production.  Talk about SuStAiNaBlE!!!!  But even then, it didn’t really leave the ethereal plains of Apulia because it was such a fresh product.  It needed to be refrigerated from start to finish.  So, burrata didn’t make it out of Italy until the invention of really good refrigerated shipping.  And didn’t make it to the U.S. until the cocaine boom in the 90’s when everyone craved things that were only PURE WHITE.

These days, fresh burrata is flown into the country one day a week.  Usually Wednesday night or Thursday morning.  So it is literally the party boy of the cheese world.  It only shows up for the weekend and then disappears until the following Friday evening.

Literally. Party boy.

Ok, that’s all I can really say about burrata. I filled up a lot of space about this one cheese, but it has literally been on my BRAINZ for like 2 months now. Seriously people. Let’s ditch the burrata and let’s talk some Tomme de Bordeaux because OH MY GAWD that would be good with some sparkling rose. Ok. That is all.

BOOMSHAKALAKA-SHAKALAKA-SHAKABOOM.

Two blog posts in one week!?  What?  That’s like.  Crazy people talk!

Well guess what.  You can finally rest at ease because I feel like blogging TWICE this week.  And it’s more cheesepinions.  Awwwwww yeahhhhhh sonnnnnnn.

New York is ungodly hot right now.  Yesterday, it got up to 108. (Well…by the Target at Atlantic Center.  But things are always a tad sPicIer over there…)  So there isn’t a whole lot of cheesin’ going on.  But, hopefully when things cool down we can go to farms and play with farm animals and take lots of pretty photos.

But until then you’ll just have to take our favorite farm animal: Dylan.  And he’s got a couple things to say about sheep.

This week, Dylan is so into Pecorino di Parco.

Pecorino di Parco CLONES.

“This is the perfect young pecorino.  With an amazing balance of slightly sour, tangy flavor and a slightly dry and airy texture, this is an excellent pressed cheese for the summer.  Plus the two dudes from Jersey whose family own the farm in Abruzzo, where this cheese comes from, are just about the most delightful people you can hope to meet.  Great cheese.  Great people.  Perfect.”  Dylan!  I didn’t even have to edit this at all.  I just copied and pasted because even though Dylan may smell like a goat, he has the brain of a human boy.  A real human boy.

Here is where Abruzzo is! It's so pretty and mountainous and has like 12 people in it. Sheep cheese heaven!!!!!

To pair with this cheese, Dylan would pick up some of the Marcelli Formaggi Miele di Tiglio (Lime Flower Honey – arguably the best honey I’ve ever had.  Literally.) to spread on a crusty baguette.  Perhaps from Il Forno bakery in the Bronx?  Grab a moussamousettes (this totally awesome small production sparkling field blend rose for the Loire in FRAAAAHNCE made by a husband and wife team.  Rene and Agnes Mosse.  Cute.  I wonder if these guys know that they are making wine that is specifically designed to get you laid.)  You can buy this little gem at our favorite neighborhood wine shop Uva!  And guess what?  You put all these things together and yer bout ta have a good time.

Can you guys tell that I just learned how to insert hyperlinks?  Because I’m real excited about it.

Oh snap!  Dylan!  All this time we thought you were going through the motions but it turns out you be a real CHEESEMONGERRRRRRRRRRRR.  Way to be.  We love you.  Hooray.  Too much ice tea.

Ok, that’s all!  And since things are slowing down for summer time, expect some totally fun blog posts!  Hooray!

XOXO, Me.

Hi.  It’s me.  Your flaky blog buddy who decided to take a summer vacation.  Remember me?  Of course you do.

Well guess what.  I snuck inside from my serious summer of sunbathing and white wine spritzers to write something on the blog.  Because the internet doesn’t take vacations.  No sir.

So I thought I’d get back into the swing of things with everyone’s favorite: CHEESEPINIONS!  Huzzahhhhhhh.  And we are back with everyone’s most bespectacled cheesemonger, STEPHANIE!  And the crowd goes wild…

So this week, Stephanie is all tingly over Appalachian from Meadow Creek Dairy in south eastern Virginia.

Meadow Creek's Appalachian

We haven’t had any of the Meadow Creek cheeses for MONTHS now.  Literally forever.  I mean, get it together Virginia.

At BCS we have been waiting so patiently for ANYTHING from the Feete Family’s farm and finally, Virginia Cheese Season is upon us.  (So put down your PBR and time to waddle over to the shop for some real AMURRRRICAN flavor).

Stephanie says that the Appalachian right now has a “lovely, satiny smooth rind, dotted with yellow flowers.”  And that delicious interior pate?  Totally “laden with tang and minerality – not too hot to eat in the summer!”  And let me tell you – it’s been so hot that I’ve been schvitzing cheese curds for about a week.  Oy….

Anywho.  What to have with this wonderful summer time cheese?  “I would have it with a tall, ic e cold bottle of Lone Star and a jar of home made bourbon soaked cherries – cause that’s Southern y’all!  XO!”

Lone Star, everyone's favorite Texan beer!

Southern cheese party!  Whoooo!  Now if only we could get our hands on some of the cheeses from Sweet Grass Dairy we’d be set for a regular hoe down!  Cheese down?  Cheesy-hoe down.  Hose down.  I would have these two DJ, because I would be so PUMPED for what would happen.

Look at the slit in that dress! What! And that wig! Totally fly. Like. The coolest thing everrrrrrrrrrr. God. She’s so great! I can’t get over it.  Anyways.  Back to cheese.  Well, nevermind.  I don’t really have anything else to say about Appalachian except is tastes like sweet, clover butter.  From the South.  Which means it’s the real deal.  Like….block your calories with happiness type of deal.  Yeah.  Gout and diabetes HERE I COME.

And to depart, here is an image of Chris Brown at the World Cup this year:

Way to let us all down, Chris Brown. Viva Rihanna.

Ha.  Dorkus.  I bet he’d come in and ask for “Brie cheese, manchengo, and cotswold.”  HA.  Cheese jokes are always so f’ing funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!