Churchkhela - Our Sweet Grape and Nut Dessert for New Year’s!

#NEWYEAR2022 #HOLIDAYSWEETS #ჩურჩხელა
STEP 1. With a thick thread and needle, pierce a hole through walnut halves from the base (20 pieces make a standard size classic grape/walnut churckhela) or through hazelnuts (15 pieces make a standard size grape/hazelnut churchkhela) but you can make individual smaller sized ones as well. Tie a knot leaving space for fingers to dip in the grape juice concentrate. Hang the nuts in a cold dry area with a window open or outside if weather permits for at least 1 day or overnight.

STEP 2. Squeeze juice of 9 lbs (4 kg) of sweet organic white grapes. It will result in about 3 kg of juice.
Let stand overnight in the refrigerator.

STEP 3. Boil at medium heat to reduce juice to 1/3 - 1/5 the amount (1 to 1.5 kg grape juice concentrate or what Georgians call "badaghi") while removing the foam from the surface from time to time. This is an important step as the final color of the liquid will be dark brown/reddish. The more you reduce, the darker it will be, hence the darker your churchkhela. Weigh the amount of concentrate/liquid obtained exactly or measure the number of cups. This should take 2-3 hours. Let stand in cold area for at least a few hours, or preferably overnight.

STEP 4. Measure about 280-300 g of whole wheat flour and/or whole wheat bread flour per every 1 kg of "badaghi" at the end of STEP 3 above (300 g of flour if the grape concentrate is 1 kg). Sift the flour. Place the liquid concentrate on the stove at low to low/medium heat. In 5 minutes after it is warm/hot, pour out about a half of the liquid onto your sifted flour, leaving the rest on the stove to heat. Mix the liquid and flour and strain if needed to get rid of clumps. Pour the thick mixture back into the concentrate heated on the stove to incorporate. Add 2-3 tablespoons of organic cane sugar or dark brown sugar (optional depending on sweetness and quality of grapes, adds shelf life). Mix everything together thoroughly, constantly or intermittently with a wooden spoon to avoid clumps from forming - this is a long process, about 2-3 hours. Do not exceed medium heat as churchkhela will not have a good flavor if the grape/flour/sugar mixture is thickened too quickly.

STEP 5. Once the grape/flour/sugar mixture is thick and difficult to mix, dip the walnut or hazelnut sticks on their threads generously into it while it is hot at least a couple of times covering all the nuts, and remove them slowly. Hang them up in a cold or dry area near an open window or outside, if weather permits. The churchkhela are best after about 10 days! Enjoy!