What is Caprese: A Tribute to Fresh Italian Flavor

What is caprese? Simply put, it's a simple Italian salad. Caprese is super easy to prepare and made up of only a few fresh ingredients: a generous ball of fresh mozzarella, red ripe tomatoes for slicing, a handful of basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil for drizzling. Everyone loves this colorful combination and it’s easy to see why in its artful balance of flavors: creamy, milky mozzarella takes on the tomato’s acidity and the sweetly herbaceous basil, where the extra virgin olive oil adds a mild fruitiness that brings it all together. It’s like they were made for each other!

The best things in life are… fresh. Especially when we’re talking Italian food. Fresh, simple, high quality ingredients are what Italian cuisine is all about, and there’s no better example of this than the caprese salad.

In fact, this seemingly simple salad is so popular that it has inspired a number of variations and caprese-style creations in the form of pizzas, flatbreads, pasta salads and more. Some of our favorite additions to the classic caprese include ingredients such as pesto, balsamic vinegar, strawberries, tuna, pasta, crostini toasts, you get the idea. There’s so many ways to love it.

Since tomato season is right around the corner, we thought the timing was right to share our favorite caprese recipes with you.