Georgians eat cheese every day: for breakfast with bread and herbs, in khachapuri, fried on a ketsi clay pan, in soups and even in sweet dishes. Almost every region has its own cheese, and some are so rare that only a few mountain families still make them. If you love cheese, Georgia is a gastronomic journey of its own.

Sulguni

Georgia's best-known cheese comes from Samegrelo in the west. It is a brined cheese with a stringy, layered texture created by melting the curd in hot water and stretching it. The taste is salty, milky and slightly tangy.

Sulguni is eaten fresh, baked into Megruli khachapuri, fried in a pan or on ketsi and baked with mushrooms. There are several versions:

  • fresh — soft and juicy, with a drop of brine inside;
  • smoked — golden-crusted and often sold as braids;
  • Svan — smoked sulguni from Svaneti with a bolder flavour.

Imeretian cheese (imeruli kveli)

A young cheese from Imereti, soft and mild with small holes. Unlike sulguni it is not stretched, so it is crumblier. It is the base of Imeruli khachapuri and the breakfast cheese of western Georgia. Eat it within a few days — it quickly becomes saltier and firmer.

Guda — cheese aged in sheepskin

Tushetian guda is a legend of mountain Georgia. Shepherds in Tusheti make it from sheep's milk and age it for months in bags of sheepskin called guda. The result is sharp, dense and pungent with a long finish.

Guda is unlike any European cheese and divides visitors: some love it, others are put off by the smell. Try at least a piece, ideally with bread and red wine. Buy it in Tusheti in summer or at markets in Telavi and Tbilisi.

Tenili — cheese threads from Meskheti

Tenili is one of the world's most unusual cheeses. Made in Meskheti in southern Georgia, the curd is pulled into extremely thin threads, packed into clay pots and aged. It looks like a skein of yarn and tastes delicate. The process is very labour-intensive and few masters remain; tenili is listed as part of Georgia's intangible cultural heritage. Look for it at markets in Akhaltsikhe, specialist cheese shops in Tbilisi and food festivals.

Chechili

Another Meskhetian cheese, braided from cheese strings, salty and often smoked. A great snack with beer.

Dambalkhacho — Georgia's mould-ripened cheese

Dambalkhacho is made in the mountain areas of Mtiuleti, Pshavi and Khevsureti. Curd is shaped into small balls, smoked over the hearth and aged in clay pots, where it develops mould. The result is sharp and piquant. It is often melted with butter and eaten with hot bread — a true highland delicacy few visitors ever taste.

Nadughi — cheese with mint

Nadughi is a soft whey cheese similar to ricotta. It is often mixed with fresh mint and rolled in thin sheets of sulguni — a restaurant appetiser called sulguni with nadughi. Fresh and light, it pairs beautifully with wine.

Kobi and other mountain cheeses

Around Kazbegi they make Kobi cheese, firm and salty from cow's milk. Svaneti, Racha, Khevsureti and Javakheti all have cheeses often known only locally. If you stay in a mountain guesthouse, ask about homemade cheese — you will almost certainly taste something you can't buy in shops.

How Georgians eat cheese

  • Cheese plate. Order an assortment in a restaurant — usually sulguni, Imeretian, smoked sulguni and sometimes guda.
  • Fried sulguni. Sulguni on ketsi, baked in a clay pan, sometimes with tomatoes or mushrooms.
  • Elarji and ghomi. Cornmeal porridge mixed with lots of sulguni — stretchy, filling and a Megrelian classic.
  • Cheese with herbs. At breakfast cheese comes with cucumbers, tomatoes, coriander, basil and tarragon.

Choosing cheese at the market

  • Taste. Sellers will happily offer a piece.
  • Check the brine. Good fresh cheese is kept in brine or damp cloth.
  • Ask how fresh it is. Fresh Imeretian cheese and sulguni should be only a few days old.
  • Prices. A kilo of sulguni or Imeretian cheese costs 12–25 lari; guda and tenili cost much more.

The best places are Dezerter Bazaar in Tbilisi and the central markets of Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Telavi.

What to drink with cheese

  • Fresh cheeses — fresh whites such as Rkatsiteli or Tsolikouri.
  • Smoked sulguni and chechili — beer or amber wine.
  • Guda and dambalkhacho — Saperavi or an aged amber wine.

Taking cheese home

Hard and smoked cheeses (smoked sulguni, guda, chechili) travel best. Ask the seller to vacuum-pack or tightly wrap them. Soft brined cheeses are harder to transport without a fridge. And check your country's rules: many countries ban imports of dairy products.

In short

Start with sulguni and Imeretian cheese at breakfast, order sulguni on ketsi, hunt down Tushetian guda and tenili at the market, and try dambalkhacho if you reach the mountains. Georgian cheese is as much a part of the culture as wine — and just as good a reason to come back.