The Making of Churchkhela

gamarjoba everyone!

I currently find myself sitting in a Tbilisi hostel with really fast internet, so I thought I would update you all on a cool tradition I was able to witness the other day back in my village!  

Right now, Georgian families are in the midst of the grape picking and wine production season like I briefly discussed in my last post.  I started talking about the national snack of Georgia, “Churchkhela” and last week my family made a batch of it.  I think the basic ingredients are just grape juice, some flour and some sugar, and then you heat that for a while until it thickens up, stirring occasionally.  Since this is Georgia, we warmed it over a fire and stirred it with a big wooden stick, so it was a little rustic, but that's all part of the Georgian experience isn’t it?  Here’s a few photos from the churchkhela making process:

This is the rustic setup we used to make the churchkhela.  This is the mixture of the grape juice, flour and sugar.

This is Tamila's mother, my host bebia (grandmother in Georgian) came into the village for the day to make churchkhela.  And she looked good in Maize and Blue the entire time!

You dip the string of nuts into the grape concoction and then covered it using a spoon.

You then pull the string out and you have churchkhela!

My host bebia looking over the string of nuts before dunking them in and then my neighbor  Maia  is hanging the churchkhela to dry.

The completed batch!

I haven't tried any of this batch of churchkhela yet, but I'm sure it's pretty darn good.  More Georgian traditions to come as fall continues!

Miss you all back home!
Kelsey