Oriental treat - churchkhela. What it is? homemade recipes

Each country has its own national dishes. Churchkhela - what is it? Many are asking this question. Only in Georgia you can taste this outlandish sweetness. Everyone who has been to this unusual country could see strange-colored sausages in the bazaar. They are translucent, sparkling and eye-catching.

What is the benefit of this meal? Can you cook it yourself?

What is the uniqueness?

What is churchkhela, Wikipedia claims - this is a national Georgian delicacy, made from nuts and grape juice. The dish is also popular among the peoples of the Caucasus. The composition of churchkhela is simple - flour, grape juice and nuts. What is the benefit of eating such a delicacy?

• well satisfies hunger;
• nutritious;
• easy to digest;
• stored for a long time;
• contains many useful substances;
• high calorie;

All this already in ancient times made churchkhela in demand. Such sausages were popular with warriors. They were light, satisfied hunger well and could be stored for a long time. Now it can be found in any Georgian bazaar. It also goes to stores in other countries.

What is churchkhela? Is this only a Georgian dish?

This delicacy can be found in different versions in any eastern country: Armenia, Greece, etc. The modern spread of the dessert has led to the emergence of various modifications of the original composition. Churchkhela is not only sweets based on grape juice. Today, juice can be pomegranate, and apple, and any other. The color of the final product depends on the raw materials used:

• A bright red color is obtained by adding pomegranate juice.
• Amber color - when using apple juice.
• Orange color - when adding apricot juice.
• Light chocolate color is obtained by adding grape juice.

Today, more and more churchkhela is prepared with various unusual additives. As nuts, almonds, cashews, peanuts are added, you can find additives of dried fruits and candied fruits. In addition to the fact that there is a natural benefit of churchkhela and the harm of which is obvious, there is also a modification with the addition of artificial dyes. The latter negatively affects the quality of the product.

Recipes

Many are sure that cooking churchkhela is difficult and dreary. In fact, such a healthy dessert is easy to make on your own, you just need to follow the technology. What can you make oriental sweetness from? From a minimum of ingredients: sugar, grape juice, walnuts and flour. How much cooking time will it take? Approximately an hour to prepare and several days to dry the finished product.

First you need to prepare the nuts. Peel them from the shell, and then fry over low heat in a dry frying pan. This is necessary for skin cleansing. If you skip this step, skins will not spoil the taste of the dish, but make it difficult to eat. You can finely chop the nuts or just cut them in half. Pieces must be strung on a thread. A length of 30 cm is enough, after which the thread with nuts is tied into a loop. A match is tied at the end.

Grape juice must be boiled in a metal bowl. Need to do it for two hours over low heat. Due to this process, the juice will begin to thicken. It is important to constantly remove the foam from the surface. Sugar is poured in portions, carefully stirring the mixture and controlling its dissolution.

The resulting mixture is cooled to room temperature. After adding portions of flour, interfering and preventing the formation of lumps. Such a mixture is called Tatar. It is put back on a slow fire and heated. It should decrease by half in volume and thicken.. A thread with nuts is lowered into the Tatar. It gets out, dries a little and falls again. This should be done two or three times. Then the bundle must be hung in the sun or in any other dry room. Readiness was easily determined: as soon as the churchkhela stopped sticking to your hands, you can eat it.

From Tatars, you can cook an easy version of churchkhela - pour finely chopped nuts into the jelly and so it is. The taste of the final product directly depends on the grape variety used. The best churchkhela will come out of high-quality raw materials, it is not difficult to make it. Instead of grape juice, you can use any other. A small amount of chalk or marble flour will help reduce the acidity of the dessert.

As a variety, you can use many fillers: nuts of all kinds, dried fruits or candied fruits. The cooking technology is the same as in the classic recipe: juice is boiled with sugar and flour, cooled. The filler is strung on a thread and immersed in the mixture. The bundle should eventually be covered with a thick layer of juice (at least 2 cm!).

Churchkhela is a good sweet for those who can not use natural sugar. Only because of the combination of juice and nuts, this product cannot be called dietary. Therefore, you need to eat it in moderation, without abusing it, otherwise the extra pounds will not keep you waiting.

Churchkhela is a natural oriental sweet made from grape juice and nuts. Churchkhela is a traditional dish in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, but you can try it not only in the Caucasus: churchkhela is sold everywhere in the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, as well as in many other cities of Russia. From this article you can find out what kind of churchkhela is and how to cook it.

What is churchkhela?

Churchkhela is a long thin sausage made of thick frozen juice. Inside the churchkhela are nuts strung on a thin thread. Walnuts are usually used, although other variations are possible. Traditionally, churchkhela is made from grape juice - in this case, it turns out to be dark brown. However, now, for a more attractive appearance, churchkhela has also been made from the juices of other fruits.

Churchkhela is an excellent dessert for those who follow their figure, because it is completely natural: juice and nuts are a completely dietary treat. In addition, nuts provide a lot of energy, so churchkhela is great for a quick snack during the day.

What is churchkhela?

Now churchkhela is prepared not only from grape juice. There are other varieties as well. Colors with the juice of other fruits are brighter and more attractive, and the taste is also different. The following varieties of churchkhela are now popular:

• Pomegranate churchkhela has a bright red color.
• Churchkhela with apple juice has a light amber color, sometimes with a green tint.
• Apricot churchkhela has a rich orange color.
• Classical grape churchkhela of light chocolate color.

Now more and more non-standard versions of churchkhela often appear. It uses a variety of nuts: cashews, almonds, peanuts or Brazil nuts, as well as candied fruits and dried fruits. Sometimes you can even find churchkhela of bright unnatural colors with the addition of dyes, but such a sweetness is traditionally Caucasian and not as useful as a natural product.

How is churchkhela prepared?

Cooking churchkhela is a rather long and laborious process. Nevertheless, it can be prepared even at home, the main thing is to be patient. Consider step-by-step instructions for making a national Caucasian dish - classic churchkhela with grape juice and walnuts.

So, to prepare this delicacy, you need to have the following products on hand:

• grape juice (2 l)
• walnuts (200 g)
• sifted wheat flour (200 g)
• sugar (100 g)

With just these four ingredients, you will make churchkhela. Follow this simple step by step guide:

• First you need to lightly fry the nuts over low heat to make it easier to separate them from the skin. Be sure to peel all the nuts well, as the skins will get stuck in your teeth and make the sweetness patchy.
• Large pieces of nuts are suitable - it is better to take whole or halves. With the help of a needle, they should be carefully strung on a thread. Tie a match to the bottom end of the thread. Make about 20-30 cm of nuts on the thread, and then tie the thread into a loop on top.
• Grape juice should be boiled over low heat in a metal bowl. In total, you need to cook for about two hours, periodically removing the foam.
• Then gradually pour the sugar into the juice, stirring it so that the sugar is evenly distributed.
• Let the juice cool to room temperature.
• Gradually pour flour into it, stirring the substance so that no lumps form. The texture of your mixture, which Caucasians call Tatar) should be homogeneous.
• Put the container back to simmer. Wait until the volume is reduced by half and the mixture is thick enough.
• In a hot thick mass, you need to dip a bunch of nuts, wait 5-7 minutes until it dries, and dip two or three more times at the same interval.
• Do the same for each bunch of nuts.
• Then the churchkhela must be dried in the sun. It should stop sticking to your hands.
• Wrap the churchkhela in a towel and leave it in a dry, ventilated place to ripen for a couple of months. After ripening, the churchkhela will be covered with a film of powdered sugar - this is a normal process. At the same time, it should remain the same soft.

Natural churchkhela is a tasty and healthy sweet that you can not only buy ready-made, but also easy to make at home on your own. Churchkhela can be a tasty and healthy dessert for those who follow their figure. It is also perfect as an addition to a hearty breakfast or a snack on the road, because nuts give a boost of energy, and the juice nourishes the body with vitamins.

ჩურჩა - dried pitted berries) - an ancient Georgian national delicacy. Distributed under other names in Azerbaijan, Armenia ("chinchlah"), Turkey and Cyprus. In Turkey it is known as the tour. Pestil Cevizli Sucuk: verbatim sujuk with walnuts. Prepared from nuts strung on a string in grape juice thickened with flour.

It has high nutritional properties due to the high content of glucose and fructose (from 30 to 52%), vegetable fats, proteins, organic acids (1.1-2%), nitrogenous and phenolic substances, vitamins.

In September 2011, the Georgian authorities filed a patent for churchkhela and several other national dishes.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing Churchkhela

Saying this, he did not take his smiling eyes off his face, from his neck, from Natasha's bare hands. Natasha undoubtedly knew that he admired her. It was pleasant for her, but for some reason it became cramped and hard for her from his presence. When she did not look at him, she felt that he was looking at her shoulders, and she involuntarily intercepted his gaze so that he would better look into her eyes. But, looking into his eyes, she felt with fear that between him and her there was not at all that barrier of shame that she always felt between herself and other men. She herself, not knowing how, after five minutes felt terribly close to this man. When she turned away, she was afraid that he would take her bare hand from behind, kiss her on the neck. They talked about the simplest things and she felt that they were close, like she had never been with a man. Natasha looked back at Helen and at her father, as if asking them what it meant; but Helen was busy talking to some general and did not return her glance, and her father's glance told her nothing, only that he always said: "fun, well, I'm glad."
In one of the minutes of awkward silence, during which Anatole calmly and stubbornly looked at her with his bulging eyes, Natasha, in order to break this silence, asked him how he liked Moscow. Natasha asked and blushed. It constantly seemed to her that she was doing something indecent when talking to him. Anatole smiled, as if encouraging her.
– At first I didn’t like it much, because what makes a city pleasant is ce sont les jolies femmes, [pretty women,] isn’t it? Well, now I like it very much,” he said, looking at her significantly. “Are you going to the carousel, Countess?” Go," he said, and reaching out to her bouquet, lowering his voice, he said, "Vous serez la plus jolie." Venez, chere comtesse, et comme gage donnez moi cette fleur. [You will be the prettiest. Go, dear countess, and give me this flower as a pledge.]
Natasha did not understand what he said, just like he himself, but she felt that there was indecent intent in his incomprehensible words. She didn't know what to say and turned away as if she hadn't heard what he said. But as soon as she turned away, she thought that he was behind her so close to her.
“What is he now? Is he confused? Angry? Need to fix this?" she asked herself. She couldn't help but look back. She looked him straight in the eyes, and his intimacy and confidence, and the good-natured tenderness of his smile won her over. She smiled exactly as he did, looking straight into his eyes. And again she felt with horror that there was no barrier between him and her.
The curtain went up again. Anatole left the box, calm and cheerful. Natasha returned to her father in the box, already completely subordinate to the world in which she was. Everything that happened before her already seemed quite natural to her; but for that, all her former thoughts about her fiancé, about Princess Marya, about village life never once entered her head, as if everything had been a long, long time ago.

Churchkhela is an ancient Georgian delicacy, the composition of which is quite simple. It consists of nuts strung on a string, filled with natural juice. The Georgians came up with it many thousands of years ago, archaeological finds testify to this. Scientists say that once this national dish saved the Georgian army from starvation. The name still causes some controversy, but in Georgian the correct pronunciation is "churchkhela" and not chuchkhela. What this dessert looks like can be seen in the photo and video on the Internet.

Is churchkhela useful

What are the benefits and harms of Georgian churchkhela? Much here depends on the constituent components, how fresh and natural they are, and also how the product was dried. If the cooking technology is followed correctly, sweetness is very beneficial for the body. The dessert is very nutritious (400 kcal) and is able to quickly cope with hunger.

It contains glucose and fructose, protein, vegetable fat, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. The delicacy has antioxidant properties, it has a good effect on the circulatory and digestive systems. In addition, it can be stored for a long time (more than a year) without losing its beneficial properties.

It is necessary to exclude or limit the consumption of churchkhela for those people who suffer from food allergies, overweight, diabetes, liver disease and tuberculosis.

How to prepare churchkhela

In the traditional version, the ingredients of real churchkhela in Georgia are only walnuts and grape juice. In this case, the sweet will have a dark brown color. Churchkhela is easy to make in, because special equipment is not required for this. You can choose the filling and juice according to your taste or give preference to the usual classic treat. Cooking takes about an hour and is quite simple.

2 ways to make churchkhela:

• freshly squeezed grape juice is taken;
• to obtain a thick consistency, cornmeal is added to it;
• nuts are strung on a strong, not very long thread;
• lower the walnut thread into thick juice several times at short intervals;
• the resulting thin sausage is dried in a dark, dry place for 5-10 days.

• fry 200 grams of walnuts on fire, why peel them;
• string them on a thread (about 25-30 cm), after tying a match to its lower end:
• squeeze 2 liters of juice from grapes;
• boil grape juice for about 2 hours, removing the resulting foam;
• add 100 grams of sugar to the juice and mix;
• cool the juice
• gradually stir in 200 grams of flour;
• cook the resulting mass over low heat until it becomes thick, and its volume does not decrease by 2 times.
• dip the juchkhela blank into the hot mixture, pull it out and wait 5 minutes so that it dries a little.
• repeat this process 2-3 times, until a layer of 1-2 cm is formed.
• dry the churchkhela in the sun so that it is no longer sticky (about 2 weeks).
• wrap the delicacy in a towel and leave it in a dry, ventilated place for final ripening for 1-2 months (it will be covered with powdered sugar on top).

Prepare this national oriental treat with your own hands and treat your family and friends.

Secrets of cooking churchkhela:

1. The use of various artificial thickeners facilitates the preparation of churchkhela, but reduces the beneficial properties of the product and can be harmful to health.
2. It is very important to dry the churchkhela in natural conditions to preserve the beneficial properties of the constituent components.
3. For the preparation of churchkhela, it is more convenient to use raw (whole or halves), high-quality dried nuts. Roasted or chopped nuts are difficult to string on a thread, they crumble.
4. Stringing nuts on a needle makes it much easier to use a regular thimble for sewing.

Modern variations of churchkhela

Nut-fruit filling and the outer layer of a popular oriental treat can be very diverse. Today it is made not only from grape juice, but also from other fruits (pomegranates, apples, apricots), so it comes in different colors, there is even a green churchkhela. They differ not only in shades, but also in taste. In photographs or with your own eyes, you can see that such a multi-colored Caucasian delicacy looks very impressive and appetizing.

Instead of the usual walnuts, the famous delicacy often consists of other types of nuts (cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds) or a whole nut mixture, sometimes there are candied fruits and dried fruits. Due to the filling and the addition of a large amount of sugar, the dish turns out to be quite sweet. To give a more piquant taste, various aromatic spices (vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom) can be used. Each culinary specialist experiments as he wants, which is why there is such a huge variety of this unusual product in the markets.

Chuchkhela of unnatural shades is usually prepared using artificial dyes, so you need to be careful when using it, and even better, choose a natural and undeniably healthy product.

Conclusion

Southern peoples revere this oriental sweet very much and eat it just like candy, especially children like it. It is often used for a quick snack, because it is very high in calories. This delicacy is allowed to be consumed even during religious Lent. Not a single New Year's feast in Georgia is complete without churchkhela, the country even received a patent for this product.

Sweet dessert can always be found in the Black Sea resort towns in local markets. Bright "pigtails" have become a kind of landmark of the southern regions and do not cease to please visiting gourmets. Today this tasty and healthy delicacy is popular not only in Georgia, but also in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Crimea, Greece, Turkey and other countries. And let it be called differently everywhere, but the composition is very similar.

In many Black Sea resorts, as well as in the Caucasus, you can try a huge number of delicacies. It's just heaven for the sweet tooth! Of course, such products can also be purchased locally, in grocery stores and supermarkets, however, prepared according to traditional recipes by hand, they are much tastier and, therefore, healthier, since they are guaranteed to consist of natural ingredients. Churchkhela also belongs to such delicacies.

Product Information

The mentioned variety of sweets is of oriental origin. The name of the product is Georgian and translates as "a delicacy with dried pitted berries." Churchkhela is widely spread in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Turkey, on the southern coast of Crimea, Abkhazia, the Mediterranean regions and, of course, in Georgia, from where it, in fact, traces its history. This delicacy has been known since ancient times, more specifically, from the era of David the Builder. Then the Georgian warriors used to make quite lengthy conquest campaigns. As provisions, brave men took with them products that are highly nutritious and have a long shelf life in the most inappropriate conditions. Churchkhela met the specified requirements, and therefore became the basis of the edible stocks of Georgian fighters.

Currently, oriental delicacy has many varieties. In addition to the traditional Georgian, there are also Gurian, Mingrelian, Racha, Imeretian and other types of churchkhela. The classic type of sweet product is called Kakhetian churchkhela. It was her recipe that the Georgians developed in their time. It involves the inclusion of nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts), sweet kernels of apricot and peach drupes, and raisins in the product. The basis of oriental sweetness is grape juice obtained from white grape varieties, including its pressed fractions. To clarify, the liquid base is boiled for 30 minutes, and then defended for about 10 hours in a row. Then the grape juice is filtered, evaporated and settled again. It turns out a viscous mass, which is heated and combined with wheat flour, turning into a thick mixture by continuous stirring.

The next stage in the manufacture of traditional churchkhela is dipping nuts strung on a thread into a grape-flour base and drying the delicacy for a couple of hours. This procedure is repeated until the layer of frozen grape juice is 2 cm. The finished churchkhela must be dried in the sun for about 15 days.

After the product is placed in boxes in layers. Each layer is covered with natural fabric material. Boxes with treats are placed in a cool place and left there for several months, waiting for the oriental sweets to ripen.

The manufacturing process of all types of churchkhela is close to that of the Kakhetian variety. The difference is only in the nuances and in the ingredients used in the production of delicacy. As a liquid component of churchkhela, grape juice of various varieties is used, as well as pomegranate juice. In addition to the nuts listed above, roasted peanuts, pistachios, and cashews are also taken for the filling.

Composition of churchkhela

Churchkhela is a delicacy with high nutritional value. Up to 50% of the total mass of the sweet product is carbohydrates: a combination of fructose and glucose. There are also fats in it, but they are 4 times less than sugars. As for protein, 100 g of churchkhela contains only 15 g of protein.

Grape juice, from which a sweet Georgian product is made, is rich in organic acids, vitamins A, PP, C, group B; micro and macro elements, in particular, phosphorus, iron, zinc, sodium, copper. It, and hence the churchkhela, is full of biologically active substances with antioxidant properties. They are called flavonoids, and if we are talking about red grape juice or pomegranate juice, then anthocyanins.

The benefits of churchkhela

Natural oriental delicacy is a very valuable product in terms of healing the human body. In principle, this is already clear from the information about its chemical composition. Churchkhela heals the heart, makes the walls of blood vessels more elastic, helps to lower the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood. Thus, this type of Georgian sweets should be eaten by people suffering from atherosclerosis, hypertension, and various diseases of the heart muscle.

A regular treat of churchkhela enhances the processes of hematopoiesis in the body, reduces blood viscosity, frees the body from accumulated toxins and toxins, and energizes. Oriental sweetness is useful for diseases of the joints - arthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism, gout. Churchkhela should be eaten by people with anemia, low immunity, who have problems in the liver and kidneys. Those types of treats that include a mixture of grape juice with pomegranate juice should include women with painful and heavy periods, as well as PMS, in their diet.

The use of churchkhela gives a good mood, tones and at the same time calms the nerves, protects against stress, activates brain activity, protects against cancer and slows down aging. Oriental delicacy is ideal for afternoon snacks and second breakfasts, as it satisfies the feeling of hunger for a long time. The calorie content of 100 g of the product ranges from 400 to 500 kcal, depending on the specific ingredients.

Harm goodies

In addition to the incredible benefits, eating churchkhela can also be dangerous to human health.

First of all, this applies to people with diabetes. It is generally undesirable for them to eat this oriental delicacy because of the enormous amount of carbohydrates in it. Otherwise, you can provoke a jump in blood glucose levels up and aggravate your well-being.

Do not get carried away eating churchkhela for overweight people. This is fraught with an increase in body weight, since we are dealing with a high-calorie product.

Contraindications to the use of Georgian sweets are cirrhosis of the liver, severe tuberculosis, pregnancy (from the 4th month until the end of the gestation period), allergies to nuts and other components of the delicacy. With urination disorders and a tendency to flatulence, churchkhela is also undesirable to eat.

homemade churchkhela recipe

As a rule, the cost of Georgian sweets does not allow the bulk of Russian consumers to eat it regularly or whenever they want. There is a way out of this situation: you need to learn how to cook this delicious nutritious product yourself at home.

You will need: 2 liters of grape juice, 200 g of wheat flour, 350 g of any nuts.

Cooking process. Take a glass liter jar and pour half the juice into it. Let him stay on the sidelines for now. Pour the other half of the liquid into a saucepan, put it on the stove, bring the juice to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes.

While the first part of the liquid is boiling, work on another part of the grape juice. Add flour to it and mix both ingredients, avoiding the appearance of lumps in the mass. Slowly pour this mixture into the simmering grape juice in a saucepan on the stove. Now boil it for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.

After the specified time, dip the threads with the nuts strung on them alternately into the jelly of flour and grape juice. Then they need to be allowed to dry a little - for this, hang ready-made "sausages". After drying, again dip the nut bundles into a thick liquid and do this until the churchkhela is the desired thickness. At the end, dry the treat thoroughly.

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