Say cheese!

Sulguni is a very popular curd cheese that has been produced in Georgia for centuries. I like it a lot. It is made from cows milk and has a soft and springy texture and a slightly sour, salty taste. It is a favourite ingredient in Georgian cuisine, most commonly in the famous Georgian cheese-bread called khachapuri. It is great in salads and can be added to practically any dish which requires a mild melted cheese. De says it is perfect for pizzas and I agree!

De will always ask to taste a cheese before she buys it and will reject it if it is not perfect. Sometimes, she will go to three or four or more cheese stalls before she finds one she likes. The tall person says it reminds him of women buying shoes!

Tbilisi’s markets have mountains of these disc shaped cheeses but you can also buy them in little shops or from kiosks like the one in the photograph below and from old ladies who make their cheese at home and sell it to passers by in the streets.

Robert Browning and I like Bread

I love bread. In Georgia it is called puri (pronounced “poo-ree”) and is baked in a deep circular clay oven called a tone (pronounced “ton-AY”). We have a tone in our garden but we don’t bake bread in it. Most streets in Georgia have at least one bakery. They are very hot places. The tall person likes to watch the baker make the traditional long pointed bread called shotis puri. He told me that the dough is stretched on to a shovel and placed on the inside walls of the oven. When it is ready the baker uses long sticks to take it out and puts it on slatted wooden shelves to cool. It smells fantastic!

The tall person knows that I love bread and he suggested I quote a famous poet, who liked bread as much as I do.

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” –Robert Browning.

What a wise man!