Peach Burrata Salad

For a brief couple of months in the summer, peaches are the most perfect food in the market. Fragrant and oozing with juice, a perfectly ripe peach is the essence of the season. In this Peach Burrata Salad recipe, ripe peaches take the place of more traditional tomatoes paired with cold, creamy burrata cheese. It’s heaven on a plate.

Hopefully, you’ve had the experience of biting into that perfectly ripe peach, with peach juice running down your chin and the incredibly sweet flavor of summer in your mouth. It is one of the great pleasures of July and August in the Northern Hemisphere. I can’t get enough peaches during this time and I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy them. This salad is a perfect accompaniment to Marcella Hazan’s Roast Chicken with Lemons or this Grilled Eggplant Parmesan dish. It's also wonderful starter course for this Za'atar Chicken with Lemon-Parsley Salad.

Ingredients for Peach Burrata Salad

The Acidity of Peaches vs Tomatoes

I have chosen peaches instead of the more traditional tomatoes for this recipe. I do so primarily for reasons of taste, but there are potential health benefits in this choice as well. Peaches are only slightly acidic, with a pH range of 3.3-4.05. This low acid content makes them an ideal substitute for tomatoes for people who suffer from the symptoms of acid reflux. Tomatoes are quite acidic, with a pH range from 4.3 to 4.9. Yellow and pink heirloom tomatoes have a higher sugar content than red tomatoes. This sweetness masks the acidity, but it’s still there. Which is why tomatoes are on the no-no list for a lot of people with reflux disease. 

Yellow peaches vs white peaches

This is a matter of personal preference, but I much prefer yellow peaches over white peaches. 

• Beauty: Visually, yellow peaches are the beauty queens of summer. On the outside, yellow peaches are deeply colored yellow and red, whereas white peaches are are a more pale yellow with touches of pink. And the same is true for the interior flesh. Yellow peaches have a more vibrantly colored flesh.
• Acidity level and sweetness: Yellow peaches are more acidic than white peaches and to me, this tartness perfectly balances the sweetness of the fruit. 
• Taste: Yellow peaches also are more intensely flavored than white peaches, and this greater flavor is a bonus whether you are just eating the fruit whole or cooking with it. That said, white peaches are more delicately flavored and sweet, and that may appeal to you. 

If the only perfectly ripe peaches I can find are white peaches, I buy them and make this salad. It is still delicious. 

How to tell if a peach is ripe

A perfectly ripe peach is firm but slightly soft to the touch when you press your finger against it. More importantly, it SMELLS like a peach when you bring it to your nose. A peach that meets these criteria bursts with juice when you slice into it and the center stone (pit) is easy to remove. If the peach doesn’t meet this “press and sniff” test, you can take a chance on the fruit ripening on your counter over the course of a few days. I have had successes and failures with ripening stone fruit at home. You want perfectly ripe peaches for this peach burrata salad.

Burrata vs Mozzarella

One of the most popular cheeses in the world, mozzarella is a fresh cow or water buffalo milk cheese, which originated in the Campania region of Italy in the 12th century. It is made by adding "good bacteria" and rennet to milk to produce curd. The curd is then cut and the whey is removed. The curd is then sliced and kneaded in boiling water. This stretches the curd and transforms it into pieces of mozzarella.

Burrata hails from Puglia, Italy, and has a fascinating history. In 1956, a particularly heavy snowfall made the transportation of dairy products difficult. A cheesemaker by the name of Lorenzo Bianchino used casings of stretched mozzarella to store cream, thus “inventing” burrata. Today’s burrata has the same exterior casing of mozzarella. The inside is stuffed with with a soft and creamy filling called stracciatella, which is simply shredded mozzarella curd mixed with cream.

These differences in production mean that fresh mozzarella has a consistent soft, but elastic texture throughout and can be easily sliced. Burrata, on the other hand, has just a thin layer of elastic mozzarella on the outside and a much softer filling inside. Burrata can not be “sliced.” You break open a burrata on a plate and the curd and cream oozes right out. Taste-wise, mozzarella has a more delicate taste. Burrata is more flavorful. To me, for a peach salad like this, I much prefer burrata. However, if I’m making a salad (or pizza or a sandwich) where I want slices of cheese, mozzarella is the clear choice. From a health perspective,  burrata is higher in fat and calories due to its cream content.

For this peach burrata salad, you will need:

• balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh basil
• ripe yellow or white peaches
• little gem or other crisp/soft lettuce leaves
• burrata cheese
• flaky sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions for Peach Burrata Salad

Substitutions for Peach Burrata Salad

• Mozzarella for Burrata - Sliced fresh mozzarella cheese, particularly if you can find Buffalo milk mozzarella, makes an excellent Peach Caprese version of this salad. 
• Tomatoes for Peaches - Of course there is no reason not to make this salad with tomatoes instead of peaches, particularly if you have an abundant crop of perfectly ripe, heirloom tomatoes. Delicious!
• Mint for Basil - Mint is a delicious herbal substitution for basil in this salad.

Variations on Peach Burrata Salad

• Grilled Peach and Burrata Salad - If your peaches are not as fragrant or as ripe as they should be, try grilling peach halves that have been rubbed with a bit of olive or avocado oil. Grilling the peaches caramelizes the sugars in the peaches and intensifies their sweetness. This method will not fix poor quality fruit, but it can make the difference between a “meh” dish and a great one.
• Peach and Tomato Burrata Salad - Adding tomatoes IN ADDITION to the peaches in this salad is unexpected and also delicious. 
• Summer Burrata Board - Arrange adjacent rows of sliced peaches (pictured below with chocolate mint leaves from my stepdaughter and her fiancé's garden), thinly sliced prosciutto, pitted sweet cherries, burrata, cherry tomatoes, basil and fresh or roasted peppers, for a gorgeous summer appetizer. 

Recipe