How to cook the most delicious churchkhela at home

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

• Category:

  desserts

• Cooking time:

  2 days

• Designed for

  Serves for 3 people

Ingredients

• chopped hazelnuts
• flour
• grape juice

Churchkhela is a delicacy that is prepared on the basis of whole and split nuts. Usually hazelnuts or walnuts are used, they are strung on a dense thread, and then covered with a dense glaze of grape or pomegranate juice. Dessert is liked not only by adults, but also by small children, in addition, it is absolutely natural and very healthy.

In the original performance of the Georgian delicacy, the housewives used walnuts, only they could be part of the churchkhela. But later the recipe for the dessert became known in other countries, and changes were made to the recipe, then they began to use almonds and hazelnuts.

Later, chefs used a mix of nuts as a filling, and in addition strung pumpkin seeds, a little raisins and prunes on threads. We will tell you the most popular churchkhela recipes, and also describe how to prepare this delicacy at home with a photo step by step.

Churchkhela with chopped nuts

If you roast walnuts, they will begin to break, which makes it difficult to string them on threads.

For this reason, the use of hazelnuts is recommended. First, you should prepare the hazelnuts, pour it into a pan and lightly ignite until tender. As a result, the nuts should get a brown hue and a very rich aroma.

Ingredients:

• fried hazelnuts - 220 grams;
• flour of the 1st grade - 120 grams;
• grape juice - 1 liter.

Preparation:

To begin with, a liter of juice from grapes is taken, this amount is halved and half a liter is poured into a saucepan. The container is put on fire and the juice is left to cook for fifteen minutes.

In the other half of the liter, flour is well diluted, it is best to do this with a whisk so that there are no lumps left. The resulting mixture is poured into a saucepan with boiling juice and cooked for about fifteen minutes.

Prepared nuts are strung on dense threads, as a result "beads" of nuts are obtained. A loop should be made from above, and a knot should be tied from below. A loop is needed to hang the sweetness for drying.

Each churchkhela is dipped into the prepared juice jelly, after the first time, the delicacy is allowed to dry for about thirty seconds and the procedure is repeated. Thus, it is necessary to dip the dessert in the juice three times.

According to this recipe, Churchkhela is hung up, and the remaining juice is allowed to drain from the home-cooked piece. In the step-by-step photos, you can see how this process goes.

When the juice drains, the procedure is repeated until the delicacy is of the desired thickness.

The dessert is moved to a dark place, in two weeks the delicacy will have time to dry well and gain a foothold. You can taste the dessert.

A simple recipe for churchkhela at home

Although the recipe is quite simple to execute, you still have to spend a lot of time making churchkhela at home. Step-by-step photos will make it possible to understand how all the products are prepared, as well as how the delicacy itself is prepared directly.

Ingredients:

• flour - 110 grams;
• ground cinnamon - 3 grams;
• fresh grapes 0 3 kg;
• corn flour - 110 grams;
• granulated sugar - 1 spoon;
• peeled walnuts - 360 grams;
• cloves - 4 pieces.

Preparation:

Walnuts are peeled from the shell, this should be done as carefully as possible so as not to damage the whole kernels. To prepare a dessert, use nut halves or quarters, smaller kernels will have to be used for another dish.

The thread is prepared, only very dense threads can be used here, the color does not matter. The length of a single strand is usually about 90 centimeters. The thread is threaded through the needle, thereby folding in half, so it will be more durable.

With the help of a needle, pieces of walnuts are strung on a thread; they do this very carefully so as not to break the kernels. Make a loop at the end of the thread, on which the treat will be hung to dry.

Prepared bundles of nuts are sent to fresh air, where they will dry for at least two days. Once the nuts are dry enough, you can start preparing the pot. The seeds are removed from each grape, and then the berries are passed through a juicer to obtain juice.

One hundred milliliters are separated from the resulting amount of drink, flour is added there. To get a quality wort, it is best to use a mixture of corn and wheat flour.

The result is a homogeneous mass for making churchkhela according to this recipe with step-by-step photos. At home, grind the carnation flowers and add them to the resulting mass, and cinnamon powder is also sent there.

The bulk of the juice from grapes is put on fire and brought to a boil, if foam appears on the surface, then it is removed. The cooking process lasts fifteen minutes. The flour mass is added to the boiling juice and cooked for about twenty minutes to make a jelly.

When the boiling of the wort is over, sugar is added to it. To get rid of any lumps in the mixture, strain the juice through cheesecloth.

Prepared nuts are dipped into the still hot mixture, after which each bunch is suspended and the juice is allowed to drain, after thirty-five minutes the procedure is repeated and the delicacy is left to dry.

Drying in the summer can be done in the fresh air, while in winter the dessert is placed near the battery. Drying lasts from five to seven days.

When the process is completed, you can pack the churchkhela according to this recipe with step-by-step photos from the bag, and store it at home in the refrigerator chamber. At room temperature, the delicacy is stored for about six months.

Useful Tips

Churchkhela is usually prepared on the basis of grape or pomegranate juice, but this does not mean that you cannot use an apple or apricot drink. It is not necessary to use only walnuts or hazelnuts to make a dessert, almonds, apricot or peach pits, as well as other types of nuts can be used here.

When cooking juice, it must be stirred, and when introducing a flour mass, a whisk should be used so that the compositions mix easily and no lumps form in the wort.

Churchkhela can be stored for no more than one year. Drying is easier to carry out in sunlight, so the process will take no more than three days.