Imeretian cheese: the taste of Western Georgia

Georgian national cuisine is known far beyond the Caucasus mountains. Many of her dishes are familiar not only to gourmets - at least once in their life everyone tasted them, and even more so heard the names. Lobio, satsivi, khinkali, chahokhbili, khachapuri, kharcho are very popular. This is not a complete list of wonderful dishes of Georgian cuisine.

However, the beautiful mountainous country is known not only for the first and second dishes, but also for excellent hops, to which, according to tradition, various kinds of cheese are served. Amazing taste of golden sparkling wine and mild sharpness of the national dairy product is an enduring classic of gourmet cuisine.

Originally from Imereti

Among the many varieties of national cheese, Imereti became the most famous. Its name is due to the homonymous region in Western Georgia. The terrain here is very beautiful: around the mountain, coniferous forests, a lot of rough rivers and foamy waterfalls.

If you are lucky enough to visit Imereti, you should definitely visit the local sights - ancient fortresses, monasteries, Christian churches, national parks. The tasting of local wines, the best of which are considered to be the tundra and tzolikauri, should become a mandatory item of the program. To such fine drinks invariably the real brand of the Western Georgia - Imeretinsky cheese is served.

The traditions of cheese making

The history of cheese production in this Caucasian republic has more than one century. The "House of Cheese", which is located in Tbilisi, demonstrates dishes in which this delicious and healthy food was stored eight thousand (!) Years ago, while in other countries cheese began to be produced only four millennia later. Therefore, Georgia can rightly be called the birthplace of cheese.

In the highlands of the country, older women still use ancient recipes for making cheese. For example, some of its varieties they stand in honey, chacha, cover the skin with grapes. After the revived recipes began to be widely used in production, they found admirers among the modern residents of Georgia.

According to official data, 14 sorts of cheese are now recorded in the country: chogi, kalti, shanili, kobi, dambal khacho, Meskhuri Chechen, Georgian, Adjarian, Huda, Imereti, Suluguni, Tushinsky Huda, Megrelian Suluguni, Svan suluguni. By the way, all these varieties can be tasted in Tbilisi's "Cheese House", where they will also learn about the history of their appearance and see the objects with which earlier, and in some mountain villages and now, cheese was produced.

The most beloved ones are Suluguni and Imereti cheese

The most famous were the cheese Imeretinsky and Suluguni. These varieties are so loved in Georgia that they are produced not only in special plants, but also at home. And along with the deserved popularity, these two varieties are interrelated for one more reason: suluguni is made from Imeretian cheese, for this, heat treatment and kneading of cheese mass are used in the same way as the dough. As a result of all these actions, a brine suluguni cheese with a layered structure is obtained, which Georgians are very fond of.

If suddenly the Russians will have a question: "I did not find Imereti cheese, what can I replace it with?" - then the answer will be obvious: Suluguni. And you can try to cook it yourself. How? And now we will tell you about it!

Imeretian cheese: recipe

For its production, unboiled paired milk is used, so all useful minerals and vitamins are stored in the final product.

Imeretian cheese at home is easy to prepare. Its recipe includes:

• Fresh cow milk - 1 liter;
• Pepsin - 60 ml;
• Cold water - 1 liter;
• Salt - 1 tablespoon;
• Sugar - 1 tablespoon.

Further actions:

1. Milk needs to be warmed up to a temperature of 38 ºС and strain into an enamel pot. After this, pour pepsin, stir with a spoon and leave in a warm place.
2. After half an hour the milk rushes, then the formed cheese mass should be separated from the whey.
3. The resulting substrate should be placed in a special shape with holes or a colander, and under it a pallet. The surface of the future cheese should be leveled and salt with a large salt.
4. To cheese imeretinsky ripe, it must be placed in a special solution - cath. For this, water is poured into the glass container, salt and sugar are added, and then cheese is placed. Everything is sealed with a lid and left in a warm place. Four days later the Imeretian cheese will be ready.

About the benefits and not only

First of all, the usefulness of this kind of cheese will be appreciated by people who follow their figure - its caloric value is only 240 kilocalories. In one hundred grams of Imeretian cheese contains 18.5 grams of protein, 14 - fat, and 2.4 - carbohydrates.

This product, produced from milk, Georgians can eat at any time of the day - for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with fragrant cakes, bread, a snack with tea, used in the preparation of salads, soups.

On this occasion, even a proverb appeared, which says that there is not only cheese from the person who died. In Georgia, about 80,000 tons of cheese are produced annually.

Dishes from imeretin cheese

The popular Imeretian cheese is used not only as an excellent snack for wine, but also as one of the ingredients in various dishes. For example, Imeretian khachapuri, khichin, foam, various salads are very tasty.

Foam - a kind of baked khachapuri, which is prepared from puff pastry, and the product we are considering is preferred as the filling.

Khychiny - pie with boiled potatoes, mixed with suluguni and Imereti cheese. A special feature of this dish is that it is fried in a dry frying pan.

Khachapuri - baked yeast burrs stuffed with suluguni and Imereti cheese.