Italian cheese burrata on a plate with a fork cloes up
FOOD NEWS
Can You Safely Eat The 'Skin' On Burrata?
By Haldan Kirsch
A ball of burrata with a cut down the side
Burrata is a cheese that combines many different textures together with stringy, creamy goodness inside a soft outer shell, but you may wonder just how safe it is to eat that outer “skin.” Rest assured that the outer layer is essentially fresh mozzarella, and has its own delicious flavor and texture to contrast the burrata's interior.
A plate of burrata, grilled peaches, and basil
When mozzarella is being made, cream and small strings of cheese byproducts are leftover, which get combined and wrapped inside mozzarella to create burrata. Burrata can be enjoyed in its entirety, all the way from the dense mozzarella “skin” to the cream-soaked stringy cheese that’s waiting inside.
Two hands holding several balls of fresh mozzarella
This process is comparable to steaks and sausages: steaks are whole cuts, but you need to remove a lot of meat scraps to get them, and sausages make those scraps more enjoyable. The same goes for mozzarella and burrata — mozzarella’s byproducts are made into something delicious that can be enjoyed in its entirety, skin included.