Geographical indication (Sakpatenti, no. 13), first protected 2012Sheep and cow milkSemi, hardAlso გუდა
Guda is a cylindrical cheese of sheep's milk, cow's milk or a blend, with goat's milk allowed in a blend, ripened for at least 60 days in a sack, the guda that gives it its name, made of sheep, goat or calf skin with the shorn fleece on the inside. The Sakpatenti specification gives 4 to 8 kg, no rind but an even, not smooth, surface, and eyes 0.3 to 0.5 cm wide throughout the paste. It cites the ethnographer Ivane Javakhishvili for sheep's-milk guda made in Kiziki, and georgia.travel lists Tushetian sheep cheese, also called guda, as a Tusheti speciality.
Taste: Lightly spicy and sour, piquant and moderately salty (4 to 7 percent salt), with a typical aroma and no off-smell, per the Sakpatenti specification. The paste runs from white to slightly yellowish, stronger in the centre, and slices may weep fat.
Ageing: At least 60 days in a skin sack (the guda)
Made in: Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti; the Tushetian version comes from Tusheti, in Akhmeta municipality, Kakheti
Geographical indication (Sakpatenti, no. 3), first protected 2012Sheep milkAlso ჩოგი
Chogi is a sheep's milk cheese made only from milk collected on the summer pastures of Tusheti, from sheep milked in July and August when the milk is richest. The curd is drained and left about 10 days to develop, then cut, crumbled and kneaded with salt and packed into a sheepskin sack. The specification gives it a butter-like consistency, a yellowish colour and a piquant taste and smell, with at least 50 percent fat in dry matter, at most 60 percent moisture and 2 to 4 percent salt. Tusheti belongs to Akhmeta municipality in Kakheti.
Taste: Butter-like in consistency and yellowish, with a distinctive piquant taste and smell, per the Sakpatenti specification, which credits the herbs of alpine pastures at 1,500 to 3,000 metres for the flavour.
Ageing: Ready one to two months after salting in a sheepskin sack
Made in: Summer pastures of Tusheti, Akhmeta municipality, Kakheti
Geographical indication (Sakpatenti, no. 6), first protected 2012Cow and sheep and goat and buffalo milkSemi, hardAlso ქართული ყველი (Kartuli Kveli)
Registered under the plain name Georgian Cheese, this is a brined, rindless table cheese of cow's, sheep's, goat's or buffalo's milk or a blend, with at least half cow's milk in a blend. It is a cylinder with slightly bulging sides, 10 to 14 cm high, 24 to 28 cm across and 4 to 6 kg, marked by the mould or cloth it drained in. It is salted and ripened at least 60 days in brine, a sour-whey brine in the specification's description, which it says gives tenderness. Kakheti is one of its five regions, and the specification says 60 to 70 percent is made on mountain summer pastures.
Taste: Uniform, firm and slightly crumbly, white to slightly yellowish, with round, oval and angular eyes. Moderately salty with a faint sour note, a little spicy and with a pleasant lactic taste, per the Sakpatenti specification.
Ageing: At least 60 days in brine
Made in: Eastern Georgia: Samtskhe-Javakheti, Shida Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti
Protected geographical indication (Sakpatenti, no. 10), first protected 2012Cow and buffalo and goat milk, bothPasta, filataAlso სულგუნი
Sulguni is a Georgian stretched-curd cheese made from cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk or a blend, raw or pasteurised. The soured curd is cut into thin layers, worked in very hot water, kneaded, by hand for classic sulguni, and folded at least four times, then salted dry or in brine. It is sold fresh, dried, aged or smoked, usually as a low rindless disc of 0.25 to 2.2 kg. The Sakpatenti specification protects the name for the whole of Georgia, Kakheti included, and traces the cheese to Samegrelo and Svaneti.
Taste: Dense, elastic and layered, with layers that separate easily. Fresh sulguni is juicy and moderately salty with a lactic taste and fresh milk and cream aroma; smoked sulguni is slightly saltier with a smoke aroma, per the Sakpatenti specification.
Ageing: Sold fresh from 24 hours after salting begins; also dried, aged or smoked
Made in: All of Georgia, with Samegrelo and Svaneti as the historic home; made from Georgian milk
Appellation of origin (Sakpatenti, no. 14), first protected 2012Sheep and cow milk, rawSemi, hardAlso თუშური გუდა
Tushuri Guda is the cheese of Tusheti, the mountain district of Akhmeta municipality in Kakheti. It is made from May to August on the summer pastures, from raw whole milk of Tushetian sheep, Georgian mountain cattle or a 50/50 blend, with up to 10 percent goat's milk allowed. The pressed curd goes into a guda, a sheep, goat or calf skin with the hair inside, with salt between the cheeses, and ripens there at least 60 days. The Sakpatenti specification describes a rindless cheese of 5 to 10 kg, cylindrical when it ripens in the middle of the sack and hemispheric at either end, its surface marked by the skin. Slow Food lists it in its Ark of Taste.
Taste: Uniform, dense and slightly elastic, never crumbly or soft, with holes of various shapes up to 10 mm and yellowish fat that can weep when cut. The sheep's milk cheese is intense yellow at the centre with a whitish edge; salty, piquant and umami, with an appetising piquant smell (Sakpatenti specification).
Ageing: At least 60 days in a skin sack (the guda), in a dry, cool place below 22 C
Made in: Tusheti, in Akhmeta municipality, Kakheti, for milking, cheese-making and the start of ripening; ripening may be finished in Pshaveli, Kvemo Alvani, Zemo Alvani and Laliskhuri
Sheep milkWheyAlso კალტი
Kalti is the whey cheese of Tusheti's shepherds. When they make Tushuri Guda in summer, the leftover whey is cooked over a flame and stirred continuously, then squeezed hot in a cloth bag, shaped into small balls and dried on a grate out of direct sun. Slow Food, which lists it in its Ark of Taste, says shepherds make it in small batches only for their own consumption and eat it at the start of a meal with local beer, often home-brewed. English Wikipedia names kalti and ghee as the filling of kotori, Tusheti's khachapuri.
Taste: A distinct smell, a soft consistency and an almost spicy taste, according to Slow Food's Ark of Taste entry. It is cooked whey, squeezed hot and dried in small balls, and is eaten at the start of a meal.
Ageing: Not aged: pressed hot, shaped into small balls and dried on a grate out of direct sun
Made in: Tusheti, Akhmeta municipality, Kakheti
