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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Georgia

Sulguniსულგუნი

Sulguni is a Georgian stretched-curd cheese of cow, buffalo or goat milk. Renneted curd is drained and left to sour for 2–24 hours, then sliced into very hot water, stretched, folded and shaped into a flat round. It is brined for 6–24 hours and eaten fresh, dried or smoked. Made in 5 steps over 8.1 h – 4 days. The longest step, salt in brine or with dry salt, takes 6 h – 3 days (Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agri…) and runs at 8–12 °C (Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia 2012). Salt is 14–22 % (Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agri…). Lactic bacteria of the raw milk and Lactobacillus helveticus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6 h – 3 daysSet[sulguni-gi]Salt in brine or with dry salt
Temperature8–12 °CSet[megruli-gi]Salt in brine or with dry salt
Salt14–22 %Set[sulguni-gi][megruli-gi]Salt in brine or with dry salt
AciditypH 5–5.5Measured[kochetkova2022]Salt in brine or with dry salt
Fully documentedCheese8.1 h – 4 daysGeorgian geographical indication (Sulguni, registration no. 10, 24 January 2012)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from RussiaMore from GeorgiaMore from Armenia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedTraditional and dairy cheese with no fixed batch size; the specification sets temperatures, times and salt, not amounts.
Cow, buffalo or goat milk, or a mix · Raw or pasteurised, whole or standardised; milk powder is not allowed; Sulguni Classic uses fresh raw whole milk[sulguni-gi]
Animal or microbial rennet[sulguni-gi]
Lactic starter (optional) · Not allowed in Sulguni Classic, which sours on its own[sulguni-gi]
Salt · Dry on the surface, or as a 14–22 % brine[sulguni-gi]
Mint, tarragon, savory, adjika, honey, wine, chacha or nuts (optional) · Georgian ingredients only, kneaded in or added after[sulguni-gi]
Starter: spontaneous (raw-milk bacteria; Sulguni Classic) | defined-culture (optional starter); rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.1 h – 4 days

Start
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32–39 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaLactobacillus helveticus

What changes: Rennet goes into milk warmed to 32–39 °C and it sets into a curd

Step 1 of 5
Warm the milk and add rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32–39 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus helveticus

Output: firm curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

rennet sets the milk; in Sulguni Classic only the milk's own bacteria are present

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Like other pasta filata cheeses, sulguni is stretched in hot water once its curd has soured for hours. It is shaped as a low, rindless round of up to 2.2 kg and brined for up to a day, and the Classic version uses raw milk with no starter.

Milk
Cow, buffalo or goat milk or a mix; raw or pasteurised
Ripening
Fresh, sold from 24 hours after salting; may be dried for days or weeks
Size
Low cylinder of 0.25–2.2 kg, 7–30 cm across and 2–7 cm high
Salt (Megruli sulguni)
1–5 % salt, at most 50 % moisture

Related ferments

Variants

  • Megruli sulguni (Georgian GI no. 9)Samegrelo only; 15–20 cm, 0.5–1.5 kg; curd soured to 140–150 °T and stretched at 75–80 °C; brined at 17–18 % and 8–12 °C.
  • Shebolili (smoked) sulguniSmoked over non-coniferous wood (pear, apple, alder, beech, quince), hot for 1–12 hours or cold for 72 hours to a week. Golden-brown crust, saltier; Megruli shebolili has at most 40 % moisture and 3–5 % salt.
  • Dried sulguniDried for days or weeks on wooden shelves in a dry, airy place.
  • Svanuri sulguni (Georgian GI no. 11)The Svaneti form, registered separately.

Safety

Sulguni may be made from raw milk; the specification leaves shelf life to the producer.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Georgian scholarship places sulguni in ancient Colchis and links its kneading and scalding to the region's humid climate (TSU). It was registered as a Georgian geographical indication on 24 January 2012, with Megruli and Svanuri sulguni as separate registrations.

  1. [sulguni-gi] Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Sulguni, registered in Georgia as a geographical indication no. 10 (24 January 2012), specification as listed under the UK-Georgia agreementspec
  2. [megruli-gi] Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia, Megruli Sulguni, registered in Georgia as a geographical indication no. 9 (24 January 2012), specification as listed under the UK-Georgia agreementspec
  3. [elcheninov2023] Elcheninov A.G., Zayulina K.S., Klyukina A.A., Kremneva M.K., Kublanov I.V., Kochetkova T.V. 2023, Metagenomic insights into the taxonomic and functional features of traditional fermented milk products from Russia, Microorganisms 12(1):16, doi:10.3390/microorganisms12010016paper
  4. [kochetkova2022] Kochetkova T.V. et al. 2022, Microbial communities of artisanal fermented milk products from Russia, Microorganisms 10(11):2140, doi:10.3390/microorganisms10112140paper
  5. [tsu-dspace] Tbilisi State University repository, From the history of Georgian food culture: sulguni (handle 123456789/1514)paper