It’s hard to find anyone in the world who doesn’t like cheese. Creamy or aged, orange or blue, artisan or not, it goes well with shoti bread, wine, fruit, honey, nuts or just on its own.
When you’re a real cheese-a-holic like me, just eating dishes made with cheese isn’t enough. You’ll want to try them fresh out of the factory, and learn as much as you can about the process of cheese-making. To most people, cheese is just food — a nice pre-dinner snack. But for others, cheese is a way of life.
Cheese lovers know that no meal is complete without it, and they would travel almost anywhere to try out a new, delicious variety.
Each country has its own method of cheese making and Georgia is no exception. Georgia can boast a number of different sorts of cheeses that come from the country’s different regions.
Although Georgia is a small country, it produces more than 250 types of cheese. Georgian supra (feast table) is unimaginable without Kveli, be it soft and tender Imeruli cheese or more rough and slightly sharp flavored as Guda cheese from the mountain region of eastern Georgia or Tenili (Meskhetian cheese) or Dambali Khacho (mildewed cheese made of quark. It is kept wrapped in a paper and kept in clay pots).
Here are Georgia’s best spots to indulge your passion for cheese.
Cheese Corner is a Cheese shop, where you can find a variety of Georgian cheese made with different techniques and ingredients you could never imagine. Address: Nutsubidze St., 163, Tbilisi 0186 Georgia
The Cheese house is absolutely amazing. Rarely has anyone seen such an abundance of unique and authentic cheeses. You can find cheese aged in wine and honey, spiced cheese, cheese with cocoa, mint and other herbs, and many other varieties that have to be tasted rather than explained. These are all well-aged cheeses that can be easily transported, so they could serve as a yummy present for your foodie friends. Address: N20, Kazbegi ave., Tbilisi
The factory “Tsivis Kveli” is in the village of Kurdgelauri, Telavi District, Georgia. There are produced the caw and buffalo milk products. The factory offers taking part in the process of cheese making.
A unique place to buy the best Georgian cheese. Here are presented a variety of cheeses, including very rare specialties, from different regions of Georgia. You can taste, you can buy and you can learn more about the history and become part of it. Address: 50 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi
many years of experience and working and efforts of merging the local traditions and new technologies of cheese-making yielded unique sorts of cheese that are merchandised in the nunnery shop.
Unfortunately, the above mentioned Georgian cheeses are rarely available at your local grocer, but that only gives you another reason to travel to Georgia
Author: Natia Pashurishvili
