🧀

Giuncata Pugliese

FreshCow MilkItaly, PugliaNONE

An ancient fresh cheese drained in rush baskets (giunchi), with a custard-like texture, consumed within hours of production.

Aging Time

Eat fresh — up to 2 days

Style: Fresh
Milk: Cow
Origin: Italy · Puglia
Ripening: Fresh · eat within 2 days

Tasting Board

Texture

Very soft, delicate, custard-like

Flavor

Very mild, fresh, milky

Nutrition (per 100g)

Calories	kcal
Protein	g
Total Fat	g
Saturated Fat	g
Sodium	mg
Calcium	mg

Tasted it? Add your notes.

Notes are saved to your personal cheese library, next to the recipes you’ve bookmarked.

Your rating

What did you notice?

Free account required

If you like Giuncata Pugliese

Browse all cheeses

Same style and milk

Burrata

Fresh · Italy

Burrata takes a stretched-curd shell and fills it with stracciatella — shreds of the same curd loosened in cream. The result behaves less like a cheese than a container of one: a good burrata is so thin-skinned and so full that it can split while being handled. The protected version is exacting about the filling, requiring the curd to be pulled apart by hand into hair-fine irregular strands rather than chopped, because mechanical processing collapses the texture into paste. It is arguably the most perishable cheese in commercial distribution. Puglian custom is to eat it within hours of the make, and although careful packing can stretch the window to a few weeks, the qualities worth having — clean sweet milk and a light salt finish — fade long before it actually spoils.

Same style and milk

Mozzarella

Fresh · Italy

Mozzarella is the reference point for the whole fresh cheese family: unaged, rindless, very high in moisture, and made to be eaten within days. It is produced by the pasta filata method: curd is bathed in hot liquid — water, or whey — until it softens, then worked and drawn out by hand until the proteins line up into a fibrous, elastic mass, which is finally shaped into a smooth ball. Cow-milk versions are often labelled fior di latte. Because it has no rind, no age, and no added flavour to hide behind, quality rests entirely on milk and technique — flaws show up immediately as gluey, gritty, or rubbery texture. It is also a common first product for new creameries, since it converts milk to saleable cheese within hours.

Same style and milk

Ricotta

Fresh · Italy

The name means recooked, and it describes the process exactly: whey left over from making another cheese is heated a second time, hot enough to drive the remaining fat and protein out of solution, and the curds that rise are skimmed off. Historically this salvaged value from sheep-milk cheesemaking rather than being a product in its own right — one of the earliest examples of recycling in food. Most ricotta sold today starts from milk, or from milk that has been combined with whey, rather than from whey on its own. Many producers add vinegar to speed acidification, which works but leaves a sharp edge; a slower culture-driven set gives a rounder, sweeter result. Gums and stabilisers on the label are a reliable warning sign, since they lock in water and release it again in a cooked dish.

🧀Same style and milk

Basket Cheese

Fresh · Italy

Italian-American fresh cheese molded in baskets.

🧀Same style and milk

Burrata di Andria

Fresh · Italy

The original burrata from Andria with PGI protection.

🧀Same style and milk

Casatella Trevigiana

Fresh · Italy

Fresh cheese from Treviso area with delicate flavor.

Add to Your Library

Save Giuncata Pugliese to your personal cheese library. Track your tasting notes, bookmark recipes, and build your collection.

Start Your Cheese Making Journey

Join thousands of cheesemakers who use Curd Lab to discover, make, and perfect artisan cheeses.

Get Started FreeFree forever. No credit card required.