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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.

Fully documentedCheese8.2 days – 8.3 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio, no. 125; listed as a dairy preparation)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

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 milkingsEvening 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]
ButterFrom cream that rose overnight on the milk (Picinisco) or from whey fat (Cassino), churned[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]
SaltBrine at Picinisco; salt worked into the curd at Cassino[arsial-scheda]
Starternone 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
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

At Cassino the milk is pasteurised at 68–70 °C for 30 seconds. 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

At a glance

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).

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]Dry in a cold room
Temperature6–8 °CReported[arsial-scheda][onaf-sheet]Dry in a cold room

What makes this one different

Unlike burrata, which holds cream and curd shreds, burrell' holds solid butter, churned from cream that rose on the milk (Picinisco) or from the fat of the whey (Cassino). 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, rests the curd 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.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  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