Trader Joe's Burrata...thoughts?

[annagranfors]

I fell terminally in love with burrata with my first sample, a very fine version made by Gioia Cheese Co., a company in El Monte, CA and distributed (albeit not as widely as it should be) here in Los Angeles.

https://gioiacheeseinc.com/

So I was excited to see that TJ's had a 12 oz. portion of burrata for $5, but somewhat worried insofar as it came in a small tub with a fluid (perhaps as preservative?) when I saw it, whereas Gioia's version is shrinkwrapped "dry" if I remember correctly. But tried it anyway, and while it's not bad (I'd say 6 out of 10), it's not Gioia's, which remains my benchmark.

Anyone else had it, yet?

(PS--if you go to the Gioia page, you're greeted with a picture of the proprietor and a batch of burrata, which appears to be floating in a similar fluid, so perhaps that's not unusual.)

[ttoommyy]

"whereas Gioia's version is shrinkwrapped "dry" if I remember correctly."

Burrata is by nature a very wet cheese. Are you sure what you had is burrata? It should always be wet.

[annagranfors]

Like sparkareno above, I bought it from my local (S. Pasadena) Bristol Farms, and what is my increasingly spotty memory is probably betraying me. It may well have been packed in liquid...I just didn't remember it that way. And I *definitely* used the wrong word when I said "dry"...it was very moist; I simply don't remember it packed in liquid. (In fairness to self, it's been some years since I'd had it...it was a luxury I couldn't afford during The Unemployment Years.)

[Dommy]

Gioia packs its burrata to fit the whole container. So there is not much liquid in it, especially when you scoop it out straight from the container... So your memory is not that faulty... :D

Back to the original question, I am also a Burrata fiend and tried the Trader Joes version and was HORRIBLY dispointed in it. When I popped the ball, what came out was grainy and liquidy, not the oozy cream that one would expect fro Burrata. I never bought it again (this was like two years ago).

--Dommy!

[MsDiPesto]

Dommy, I had a similar experience when Burrata first appeared at my TJs last year, grainy, not like what I had bought at Wegman's at all. I tried the TJ's Burrata again a couple weeks ago, and it was just fine.

[woodleyparkhound]

It sounds a little bit scary. My understanding is that burrata has virtually no shelf life and has to be consumed within a couple of days after it has been made.

[sparkareno]

I'm not sure why it is scary---the packages are always dated. And yes, it does have a short shelf life.

[woodleyparkhound]

Because two days from making to consumption doesn't allow time for packaging, transportation and shelf life. It tells me this product isn't really burrata.

[ttoommyy]

"Because two days from making to consumption doesn't allow time for packaging, transportation and shelf life. It tells me this product isn't really burrata."

Why wouldn't it be burrata? It doesn't have to be from Italy to be burrata. It could be made down the block from the places selling it.

[sparkareno]

The burrata I got at Costco had a longer expiration date than the Bristol Farms one--maybe a week. I didn't like it as much as the Bristol Farms one but it was definately burrata.

[sparkareno]

I buy the Gioia burratta at Bristol Farms and it is always packed in liquid. I bought burratta at costco & it was some other brand & I didn't like it nearly as much. I don't know who makes the TJ one.