Churchkhela

About This Recipe

Churchkhela is the most distinctive sweet in Georgia: walnuts threaded onto a string, dipped repeatedly in tatara — a thick, hot mixture of grape juice and flour — building up layers like dipping candles. Once dried, the result is a chewy, fruity, nut-studded sausage shape sold at every Georgian market. Made traditionally only during autumn grape harvest.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 200 gwalnut halves
• 1 Lfresh red grape juice(or 100% pure grape juice from bottle)
• 100 gplain flour
• 100 gsugar(if grape juice isn't sweet enough)
• 1 ballkitchen string(thick, food-safe)

Instructions

1. 1

   String walnuts

   Thread a needle with kitchen string. Push through walnut halves, leaving 5 cm of empty string at top for hanging. Make 4 strings of 12–15 walnut halves each.

2. 2

   Make tatara base

   Bring 800ml of the grape juice to a boil. Add sugar if needed (depends on grape sweetness).

3. 3

   Make slurry

   Whisk flour into remaining 200ml cold grape juice until smooth, no lumps.

4. 4

   Combine

   Slowly whisk slurry into the boiling juice. Continue whisking and reduce to low. Cook 15 min until thick like a custard, glossy and the floury taste is gone.

5. 5

   First dip

   Cool slightly to 60°C — too hot the coating runs off, too cool it won't adhere. Dip each walnut string fully into the tatara, lift out, let drip.

6. 6

   Hang to dry

   Hang strings on a wooden spoon or rack over a tray. Dry 30 minutes.

7. 7

   Repeat dips

   Reheat tatara to 60°C. Dip again. Hang. Repeat 3–4 times to build thick layers.

8. 8

   Final drying

   Hang in a cool, dry, airy place 5–10 days until firm and slightly tacky to touch but not sticky. Slice diagonally to serve.

Variations

• •

  Use hazelnuts or almonds instead of walnuts

• •

  Pomegranate juice version: replaces grape for a tart variation

• •

  Quick version: dip just twice, hang 2 days for soft churchkhela

Storage

Wrap in cheesecloth, hang in cool dry place — keeps 3 months. Slight white bloom (sugar crystallisation) is normal, not mould.

Frequently Asked Questions