Nuts in grape juice on a string. Churchkhela recipes at home

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 began to be 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 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.

There are few tasty and healthy desserts capable of maintaining their taste qualities. Churchkhela or " sujuk from walnuts ”contains ingredients available almost at any time of the year, can compete with other recipes in ease of manufacture. A curiosity from the east, proven for centuries, was often used by warriors on long campaigns to reinforce their forces. It is an integral part of the local feasts and feasts.

How to make churchkhela - the necessary ingredients

• Fresh grapes - 1.5 - 3 kg. Sweet varieties with the lowest seed content are suitable, such as Isabella, Moldova out of season, you can use store-bought or homemade canned juice 1 - 2 liters.
• Nuts - in the classic version, walnuts and hazelnuts are used, there are different ratios, for example, 70% to 30%, nothing prevents changing the proportions. With a total weight of 150 - 200 g per liter of juice.
• Wheat flour or sifted corn - 100 - 125 g per 1 liter of juice.
• A thick needle and several meters of strong cotton thread, a thimble.

How to make churchkhela - cooking

nuts

• If you want to deviate from the canonical recipe, you can add pumpkin seeds, raisins, apricot kernels or small prunes to the nuts. Also pomegranate juice will give the sweets a red color, apple - amber, apricot - yellow.
• The cooking process itself begins with preparing a place for drying churchkhela. The average length of the threads is 30 - 40 cm. Do not forget that at first the juice will drip, so baking paper or baking sheets are prepared so as not to spoil the lower surfaces. If it is placed on the street, you will need gauze covers to protect against insects.
• The next stage begins with a light roasting of nuts in an empty pan for 3-5 minutes. The walnut is divided into halves and if it is very large, then into quarters.
• Now you need to string the nuts on a thread, piercing them with a needle, a row is created 15–25 cm long. An indent is also left from each edge of the sausage by 5–10 cm. A knot is tied from one edge or a toothpick is tied so that the nuts do not move out. On the other is a loop for attaching threads in a vertical position.

Cooking pelamushi

• The grapes are washed, put in a juicer. If this technique is not available, a blender is useful, after which the pulp is rubbed through a sieve or squeezed through cheesecloth. All juice, except for 200 - 300 g of a glass, is poured into a saucepan and simmered for 15-25 minutes. The remaining portion goes into the bowl along with flour, mixed to a homogeneous consistency.
• After the juice boils, you can cook for a couple more minutes. The contents of the liquid with flour are added in a small stream, not forgetting to actively stir with a wooden spoon. Do not rush, this is one of the most important stages. Haste or lack of stirring will lead to the presence of lumps, which can adversely affect the result.
• The juice is boiled for 15 - 20 minutes. to a mushy state. Stir every couple of minutes. It is also worth trying the juice for sweetness, if it is sour, add honey or sugar. If the juice thickens enough and stays on a spoon, then it is cooled on the stove to 50 ° C.

Churchkhela - the final stage

• Prepared threads with nuts are dipped in pelamos with a spoon for 3-5 minutes. This is done so that the ends of the threads do not fall into the dishes. Sweets are held over the pan so that the excess drains. If the nuts are completely exposed, then the jelly was not thick enough and the next time you need to add flour. Then the sweets are hung out to dry for 20 minutes. The procedure is repeated until the nuts are covered by 2 cm (or a little more) pelamush.
• The remains of jelly and nuts can be mixed, and then poured into small molds and put in the oven for 10-20 minutes. You will get delicious sweets. herself pelamos in the apartment it dries for 4-7 days. You can speed up the process and expose it to the sun for 2 days, but this will dry the product more.
• Churchkhela is almost ready to eat. According to tradition, they are laid out in boxes and hidden in dark, dry places for several months for the final impregnation of nuts.

As you can see from the example above, Oriental curiosities are not always difficult to prepare, or not available in terms of ingredients. But they certainly diversify the dessert range in everyday life. Also in the future, you can experiment with stuffing and spices, which will finally add originality to the product.

It is not only tasty, but also a nutritious sweet, unmatched in nutrition among all delicacies. It contains a huge amount of glucose, fructose, proteins, organic acids and vitamins. Therefore, learning how churchkhela is made will be very interesting for all beginners and experienced chefs. Today, many varieties of this dish are known, which are prepared differently in each region of Georgia.

How to make churchkhela at home?

Even an inexperienced cook who used to buy sweets in a supermarket can easily understand how to make churchkhela at home.

Ingredients:

• natural - 3 l;
• wheat flour - 750 g;
• cornmeal - 250 g;
• peeled nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts) - 700 g.

Cooking

Toast all nuts in a dry frying pan for 3-4 minutes and cool slightly. Free the almonds and hazelnuts from the husk by lightly rubbing them with your palms. Chop the walnuts into fairly large pieces.

Take strong threads about 40-45 cm long and use a thick needle to string nuts on them (they should take about two thirds of the length). Be sure to make a large knot at one end, tie the blanks in pairs using the free ends, and hang them on any wide crossbar.

Not everyone knows what modern churchkhela is made of, but the main ingredient - grapes - remains unchanged. Cook jelly out of it. To do this, pour the juice into a saucepan, wait for it to boil, reduce the heat a little and boil for about 10 minutes.

Pour separately one liter of juice and leave it to cool, and boil the remaining liquid for about another 10 minutes. In a bowl with cooled juice, pour wheat and cornmeal and stir thoroughly until the smallest lumps are completely removed.

With constant stirring, pour this mixture into the remaining juice, which continues to boil. Boil still for about 25 minutes. It should be turned off when the consistency of the mass resembles a thick porridge.

Place a tray under the crossbar with hanging blanks that need to be dipped in jelly and hung again on the crossbar. If you are wondering how churchkhela is made in Georgia, you should understand that this is one of the most important stages in the preparation of this delicacy. Therefore, try to ensure that the workpieces are well saturated with liquid, and when they dry out, repeat this simple procedure again. At the end, move the crossbar with churchkhela to a room that can be well ventilated for a couple of weeks, then wrap it in parchment and store it in a place that is not exposed to sunlight.

How is churchkhela made in Abkhazia?

In principle, the recipe for the dish is in many ways reminiscent of the Georgian counterpart, but it has its own nuances: Abkhazians use only hazelnuts for cooking. Try making churchkhela both ways and compare which flavor you like best.

Ingredients:

• - 500 g;
• grape juice of natural origin - 1 l;
• wheat flour - 150 g;
• sugar - 50 g.

Cooking

We clean the hazelnuts from the husk and string them on strong threads about 25 cm long using a needle. Tie a knot at one end of the thread. We boil the grape juice for about a quarter of an hour over low heat, add sugar, remove from the stove and cool. Then again put the pan on the fire and, not forgetting to stir constantly, pour in the flour. Cook the mixture for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

This article will talk about how to cook delicious dish from grapes, a real churchkhela recipe will also be described that can be easily repeated at home. This wonderful dish is popular in many countries, it is cooked in Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and other wonderful places on our planet. Every tourist who has tried such a delicacy on vacation will remember these taste sensations for a long time.

What is Churchkhela, and what beneficial properties does it have?

This delicacy belongs to numerous oriental sweets and is made exclusively from ingredients of natural origin. Churchkhela is adored by both adults and children, but the real nutritional value of this sweet scares away many of the fair sex who care about their slender figure. The calorie content of the dish may vary, but the average value is approximately 405 kcal / 100 g. The content of BJU (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) in 100 grams of the product is approximately the following: 5-14-62.

Due to its natural composition, Churchkhela is very useful. In the classic version, it is made from grape juice and nuts. There are many different cooking options. Juice is often used apricot, melon, apple, cherry or pomegranate. The final color of the product will depend on his choice. A standard recipe using grape juice makes Churchkhela purple. The nut component can also be exchanged for dried fruits.

Beneficial features:

• High ecological value of the product (no dyes, preservatives and artificial sweeteners);
• The ability to quickly restore strength (the high nutritional value of the delicacy is great for a snack at times when there is no possibility of eating the usual food);
• Significant improvement in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, heart and other systems of the human body;
• The ability to increase performance due to the content of organic sugar;
• The high content of vitamins and microelements in this natural product has a positive effect on the body, the health of teeth, nails and hair.

Are there any contraindications to the use of Churchkhela? Diabetics, obese people, patients suffering from tuberculosis or kidney disease cannot consume this delicacy, since grape juice is categorically contraindicated for these categories of people. The dish can also cause allergic reaction in some categories of people, so it is recommended to try the sweetness in small portions for the first time. This should be done especially carefully by expectant mothers and women with newborn children because of the danger of side effects. Next, we will talk about how to cook Churchkhela at home.

Recipe

For the recipe for cooking Churchkhela at home, you will need:

• Natural grape juice (you can take any other to your taste) - 1 liter;
• A mixture of peeled walnuts and hazelnuts - 0.5 kg;
• Premium flour (wheat) - ½ cup.

A step-by-step process for recreating a culinary delight:

1. You need to find a cotton thread 25 cm long and thread it through a needle;
2. Crush the walnuts (their kernels) a little, and leave the hazelnuts in their original form;
3. Nuts should be put on the thread, leaving its end free (about 4 cm). This tip must be wound on an ordinary match and tied in a knot, securing it in this way;
4. Next, you need to add flour to 300 ml of juice and mix thoroughly until a homogeneous mass without lumps;
5. The remaining 700 ml of juice should be poured into a pre-prepared container (pot) and put on the stove (on minimum heat). Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally;
6. Upon reaching the beginning of the boil, it is necessary to add the pre-obtained mass of juice and flour there, mix thoroughly;
7. At this stage, you can taste the dish and sweeten it slightly (it all depends on the grape variety from which the juice is made);
8. The ingredients are cooked until a sticky thick mass is formed;
9. The resulting product must be cooled to a temperature of about 55 degrees and put our nuts strung on a thread there. All nuts should be covered in an even layer;
10. Next, the “nut beads” must be removed and allowed to dry for several minutes, then placed back in the pan. This procedure is done until a layer of congealed grape juice about 2 cm thick is formed on the nuts;
11. On final stage the resulting Churchkhela must be thoroughly dried. It will need to be posted in convenient location(you can on the balcony on a clothesline) and leave it in this position for several weeks (the remnants of the flowing juice can leave unpleasant surprises on the floor, so you should lay paper or substitute a baking sheet);
12. The complete readiness of sweetness is determined by the hardness of the top layer and the soft filling inside. It is recommended to store this Georgian delicacy wrapped in a linen towel at room temperature.

From the remaining juice, you can additionally make sweets. The juice must be poured into small molds, add the ground nuts there and let them harden.

Types of churchkhela and cooking features in different countries

The most common are Armenian churchkhela, Imeretian and Kakhetian.

The Kakheti recipe is different in that grape juice is chosen in the form of the most pressed fractions with a high content of extractives. The resulting juice is additionally settled for 12 hours, then filtered and evaporated until a thick mass is obtained.

During cooking, chalk or marble flour can be added to reduce the acidity of the dish. X A well-aged Churchkhela has flavors reminiscent of chocolate. You can add raisins and apricot, peach pits to the filling.

Georgian chefs know how to cook other versions of this sweet delicacy, changing the filling and the quality of the flour.

All sweet tooth sooner or later wonder about the degree of harm of adored sweets. Calories, sugar levels and other artificial components often haunt sweet lovers. Especially when they have a desire to lose weight or switch to healthy lifestyle life. Are all sweets harmful and should be excluded from the diet? We hasten to please you - it is not necessary to deprive yourself of all the joys in life in order to minimize the effect of chocolate on the waist and hips. It is enough to give preference to fruits and nuts so that the pleasure of eating does not fade, and the waist remains in one pore. So, what can be prepared so that it suits both daily tea drinking and the festive table for any holiday? Try churchkhela, a national Georgian dish that is easy to prepare and replaces sweets and candy bars from the store.

How to cook churchkhela at home?

To prepare a classic dish, we need:

Nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, hazelnuts - you can separately and mixed) - 350 g

Grapes or grape juice - 2 l

Sugar or honey (if the grapes are not sweet enough) - to taste

Flour (corn or wheat) - 200 g

Undyed cotton thread (you don't want to repeat the Bridget Jones experience and make a dish unnaturally blue or green)

Medium sized needle.

Having prepared the necessary ingredients and utensils, proceed:

1. We dry the shelled nuts in a dry frying pan, stirring constantly - otherwise they will burn. We roll nuts covered with husks between our hands - this will make it easier to separate them.

2. We cut the thread into segments of 50 cm. Their number is proportional to the number of ingredients. If you are not sure that you will correlate correctly, cut the thread as you string it.

3. We thread the cut thread into the needle, tie the opposite end into a double knot or tie a match or a piece of paper - this is necessary so that the strung nuts do not slide down under the pressure of the total mass and do not slip off the thread.

4. We start stringing nuts. They can be of different sizes - whole, broken in half or a quarter. The main thing to keep in mind is that if you grind too much, then they may not be strung - they will break and crumble.

5. We string the nuts, not reaching 5 cm to the upper end of the thread - it will need to be tied with a loop so that the thread can be hung.

6. Having strung all the prepared nuts, remove the resulting garlands to the side and prepare the syrup. To do this, we need grape juice, which can be obtained using a juicer. There is no such device - grind the berries with a blender or meat grinder. The resulting mass must be rubbed through a sieve or squeezed through several layers of gauze. There is no way to buy grapes - the juice from the package will do.

7. We divide the juice into two parts: pour one into an ordinary glass, it will be 250 ml, the second into a saucepan. We put most of it on the fire, bring to a boil. We make sure that the juice does not burn, and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring. If the juice is not sweet enough, add sugar or honey.

8. Pour a smaller part of the juice into a wide bowl and gradually add the sifted flour, stirring with a whisk until the lumps disappear.

9. Pour the mixture of flour and juice in a thin stream into the thickened grape juice, also stirring. Simmer over low heat for another 5-7 minutes. The resulting syrup should turn out to be thick, sweet and viscous, like caramel, otherwise it will not work correctly.

10. Decide on a place where you will hang your walnut necklaces to dry. It can be a clothesline - if you still have such an anachronism in your kitchen, a cabinet handle, a clothes hanger, etc.

11. Having decided on the place, cover the bottom (tabletop, floor) with culinary parchment - washing the frozen syrup is not the greatest pleasure.

12. When the drying place is prepared, we proceed to the most interesting. We take low nuts and dip into condensed juice, if necessary, melt with a spoon to cover the entire surface with syrup. We take it out, hold the thread over the pan so that the excess juice stacks and the rest dries up. To speed up the process, you can heat the layers with a hair dryer.

13. When the juice stops draining from the nuts and seizes slightly, dip them into the pan again, make sure that the surface is completely covered, take it out, wait until the excess drains, etc. We repeat this procedure with each thread 3-4 times.

14. When the last layer of syrup solidifies on the nuts, we hang the thread by the loop in the place provided. When all the threads are ready, hang them up and leave them to dry completely.

As for the drying time, everyone does it to their liking. According to the rules, churchkhela should dry completely within 5-10 days, after which it should be wrapped in a linen towel and left for 2-3 months. Only after sugar appears on the surface, the delicacy is considered ready.

However, not everyone has the patience to wait so long, so someone prefers to take samples after the syrup has completely dried, and someone - already a few hours after hanging.

If at the end of cooking, you still have extra syrup, use it too: mix with chopped nuts and dried fruits, arrange in molds - you will get natural sweets. Spread the surface of the biscuit - a great decoration for the cake. Pour any dessert with the resulting sauce - ice cream, cream, jelly. In general, there are a lot of ways to use it!

When cooking churchkhela, you can show your imagination and add raisins, prunes, dried apricots and other dried fruits, up to pineapples, to the nuts. And grape juice can be replaced with apple, apricot or pomegranate. So the dessert will have a different color, taste and will not be able to get bored even with frequent use.

Video. How to cook churchkhela?