Sign up with email

or

Already a member? Log in.

Trouble logging in?

Not a member? Sign up!

Tbilisi stores and markets are festooned now with distinctive sausage-shaped candies called churchkhela, ready for New Year celebrations and then Orthodox Christmas on January 7. They are a very traditional Georgian specialty, usually homemade from grape juice thickened with flour and nuts.

But those aren’t the only ingredients you need to make churchkhela – they also require some serious muscle. How could it be otherwise for a food created by Georgian warriors as a sugar hit that wouldn’t perish on a long march? It was, in other words, one of the world’s earliest energy bars.

“We still do it the same way as our ancestors,” says Khatuna Saalishvili, as we watch her and her husband, Temuri, start the process in their backyard in the village of Kisiskhevi. A wood fire heats a large metal cauldron filled with the mix of grape juice and flour known as tatara. The steam shines in the winter sun. The Saalishvilis’ daughter, Ani, visiting from Tbilisi with her little baby, and their neighbors take turns stirring the pot with a large wooden spoon, as big as a woodcutter’s axe. Churchkhela making is a communal affair.

After simmering several hours, the tatara is so dense it almost holds the spoon upright. But as she lifts it and watches cinnamon-colored globs slide back into the pot, Khatuna wants it still thicker. “Another half an hour,” she says, and strides off.

Faces tighten. There’s a good-natured grumble from the volunteers. Even if Khatuna is happy in an open-necked shirt and slippers, everyone else is freezing.

Temuri comes over to give the mix another turn.

“Let’s go,” he says theatrically, plunging the spoon into the wax-like mixture and working it like an oar in a heavy swell. He is a big man, arms and shoulders molded by years of hefting sacks of grapes and wine barrels. But barely 30 seconds later, he has to give it a rest. We give it a try too. Mixing cement is easy by comparison.

Finally, the moment arrives. The tatara is ready – and an orchestra of hands springs to life.

First Khatuna and Temuri’s, lifting the heavy pot off the fire. Other hands lay a wooden plank to catch the drips and chairs to serve as a makeshift drying rack. Another pair arranges strings of walnuts and hazelnuts on a tray, ready to be covered with the sticky grape mixture.

They push each string of nuts under with a spoon, before hanging them on long sticks to dry. As each rod fills up, Temuri suspends them between the chairs.

“Only 20 per stick,” he shouts, “or they won’t fit.”

“I’ll put however many I like,” Khatuna shoots back. The ribbing doesn’t interrupt the workflow, and soon there are hundreds of churchkhela hanging from sticks. They will be dried for 10 days in the family loft and then taken to Tbilisi to be sold for 3 to 5 lari (US$1.20 to $2) a piece. The reward for the waiting is the sweet, burnt scrapings at the bottom of the pot, and everyone crowds round. Churchkhela making is done for another year.

(Video by Nikoloz Bezhanishvili and Giorgi Lomsadze)

Editor’s note: In anticipation of the New Year and Orthodox Christmas, we thought it was worthwhile to rerun this illustrated dispatch from 2015. Contributor Andrew North is an artist and journalist based in Tbilisi who spent many years before that reporting from the Middle East and Asia.

This article was originally published on December 26, 2017.

  • Caga TíoDecember 2, 2021 Caga Tío (0)
    Caga Tió, Tió de Nadal No cagues arengadas Que són saladas Caga torróns Que són més […] Posted in Barcelona
  • In the House of CodMarch 12, 2020 In the House of Cod (0)
    In Spain, preserving the rituals of Lent – historically a period of 40 days of prayer, […] Posted in Barcelona
  • Tbilisi SketchesDecember 24, 2015 Tbilisi Sketches (0)
    Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in our monthly series of illustrated […] Posted in Tbilisi, Urban Sketches
Andrew North

Published on December 08, 2021

Related stories

December 2, 2021

Caga Tío: Crappy Christmas

Barcelona | By Paula Mourenza
By Paula Mourenza
BarcelonaCaga Tió, Tió de Nadal No cagues arengadas Que són saladas Caga torróns Que són més bons It’s not a carol, but it is likely the most popular song in Catalonia around Christmastime. Please pardon the profanity necessary in rendering a faithful translation: “Shit, Log, Christmas Log/Don’t shit herrings/Which are salty/Shit nougats/Which are better.” You…
March 12, 2020

In the House of Cod: Lent and Easter in Barcelona

Barcelona | By Paula Mourenza
By Paula Mourenza
BarcelonaIn Spain, preserving the rituals of Lent – historically a period of 40 days of prayer, penance and pious abstinence from eating meat that leads up to Easter – was up until the second half of the 20th century mostly the responsibility of priests. Nowadays, however, it is more often the country’s chefs who are…
December 24, 2015

Tbilisi Sketches: Muscling Up Some Churchkhela

Tbilisi | By Andrew North
By Andrew North
TbilisiEditor’s note: This is the latest installment in our monthly series of illustrated dispatches covering local spots in and around Georgia’s capital. Contributor Andrew North is an artist and journalist based in Tbilisi who spent many years before that reporting from the Middle East and Asia. Tbilisi stores and markets are festooned now with distinctive…
Select your currency
USD United States (US) dollar
EUR Euro