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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Burrell' (Scamorza con burro all'interno)Burrell'

Burrell' is a small ball of stretched cow-milk curd wrapped around a core of butter. At Picinisco raw milk is set with lamb rennet paste, the curd is cooked to 45 °C, ripened 24 hours and stretched in water at 90 °C; at Cassino the milk is pasteurised and set with a starter and calf rennet. The butter comes from cream skimmed from milk or whey. Made in 8 steps over 8.2 days – 8.3 days. The longest step, dry in a cold room, takes 7 days (ARSIAL 2019) and runs at 6–8 °C (ARSIAL 2019). Native lactic flora of the raw milk, which sours the curd during its 24-hour rest and Thermophilic lactic starter do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysSet[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]Dry in a cold room
Temperature6–8 °CSet[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]Dry in a cold room
Fully documentedCheese8.2 days – 8.3 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio, no. 125; listed as a dairy preparation)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sources give times and temperatures but no amounts. Each burrell' weighs 0.2–0.4 kg.
Whole cow milk from two milkings · Evening milk chilled; summer milk from pastures up to 2000 m[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]
Lamb rennet paste (Picinisco) or liquid calf rennet (Cassino)[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]
Thermophilic starter (Cassino only) · Added at 38 °C; Picinisco uses no starter[arsial-scheda]
Butter · From cream that rose overnight on the milk (Picinisco) or from whey fat (Cassino), churned[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]
Salt · Brine at Picinisco; salt worked into the curd at Cassino[arsial-scheda]
Starter: none at Picinisco; thermophilic starter at Cassino

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.2 days – 8.3 days

Start
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38 °C

What changes: Filtered cow milk is warmed in a copper cauldron

Step 1 of 8
Warm the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
38 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: warm milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Unlike burrata, which holds cream and curd shreds, burrell' holds solid butter churned from the same farm's cream. Lazio lists it as a dairy preparation, not as a cheese.

Milk
Cow milk, whole; raw at Picinisco, pasteurised at 68–70 °C for 30 s at Cassino
Size
0.200–0.400 kg; spherical or with a small head
Ripening
About 7 days of drying at Picinisco (7–10 days in one ONAF sheet); none at Cassino

Related ferments

Variants

  • PiciniscoRaw milk, lamb rennet paste, curd cooked to 45 °C and rested 24 h, brined, dried 7 days.
  • CassinoPasteurised milk, starter and calf rennet, uncooked curd, salt worked into the curd, sold at once.

Safety

The Cassino version uses pasteurised milk; the Picinisco version uses raw milk, sours a day and is then kept at 6–8 °C.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

An old product of the central-southern Apennines, once used as barter in the local economy. It is cited in the INSOR Atlante dei prodotti tipici as a cheese of that tradition. Today it is made in small amounts for local buyers.

  1. [arsial-scheda] ARSIAL, prodotti tipici, Scheda analitica del prodotto Burrell' (id 61), printed 20 March 2019gov
  2. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Burrell'web
  3. [pat-lazio] Regione Lazio, Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, Allegato I, Regione Lazio (2025), no. 125gov
  4. [onaf] ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Burrell' (Scamorza con burro all'interno)' (id 1323)web