found in cow's milk, giving mozzarella di bufala its pure white colour.
Burrata was first made around 1920 on the Bianchini farm in the town of Andria in Murgia, a small area in the Apulia region. In the 1950s, it became more widely available after a few of the local cheese factories - notably Chieppa - began producing it. It is generally believed that factories found it a way to utilize the ritagli ("scraps" or "rags") of mozzarella. Established as an artisanal cheese, Burrata maintained its premium-product status even after it began to be made in a number of factories. It became more widely available outside its native Apulia in the early years of the twenty-first century. Burrata starts out much like mozzarella and many other cheeses, with rennet used to curdle the warm milk. But then, unlike other cheeses, fresh mozzarella curds are plunged into hot whey or lightly salted water, kneaded and pulled to develop the familiar stretchy strings (pasta filata), then shaped in whatever form is desired. When making Burrata, the still-hot cheese is formed into a pouch, which is then filled with scraps of leftover mozzarella and topped off with fresh cream (panna) before closing. The finished Burrata is traditionally wrapped in the leaves of asphodel, tied to form a little brioche-like topknot, and moistened with a little whey. The asphodel leaves should still be green when the cheese is served, to indicate the cheese's freshness. More recently the cheese is often sold in a plastic bag or container filled with water to aid preservation We only work with one artisan producer namely Sapori dell Antica Murgia and we only receive one delivery a week from them, so it's best to pre-order.
Featured Fruit Products
Turkish morel hav
e been flown in this week. Quality is very good as the mushrooms are lovely and dry resulting in a distinctive sound when they are handled. Fashion seedless watermelon, so famous in the Spanish season, is arriving from Senegal. It has a lovely deep red flesh with very few seeds.
Wild garlic leaves are packed loose in 1kg trays or in 200g punnets for better control of the product. A versatile leaf that requires just a little imagination for numerous uses. Kiwai, or baby kiwi, are available from both Chile and New Zealand. The fruit has little or no hair and can be eaten whole.
Featured Vegetable Products
Pictures sometimes talk more than words. Just to show the distinctive colours available; here is the pure white asparagus. Here is a white & pink asparagus which has been close to breaking the mound of earth it grows in. This is what causes the colour on the top of the spears. White & pink green is an asparagus that has broken through the mound and started to photosynthesise.
Everyday we discover new things. This week we found these nice turnip called Tokyo in a bunch of 3 heads. They are grown in Italy.
Special points of interest
- Vacherin Mont d'Or is about to finish - they only make so many in the autumn and once they are sold that's it
- Guinea fowl - now in its main season
- Burrata now available in two sizes
- Butter prices - these are out of our control but we are very aware of them and are trying to help where we can
- Mixed cheese boards - growing more popular each week