A pasta filata shell, hand-closed into a pouch, enclosing a soft heart of cream mixed with shredded pasta filata strands, the stracciatella: it is cut at the table, and the filling spills out. It is a fresh cow's milk cheese, meant to be eaten the same day.
It was born around 1920 on a farmstead near Andria, the work of brothers Lorenzo and Vincenzo Bianchino: the story goes that a heavy snowstorm had prevented milk from being carried into the city, and the two of them, not wanting to waste it, combined the idea of the traditional manteca with fresh cream, wrapping it all in a hand-formed pasta filata pouch.
Burrata di Andria received Protected Geographical Indication status in November 2016, with production allowed throughout Puglia under regulations that set the characteristics of the milk and the stages of production.