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Cheese from Georgia, the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and a municipality of Kvemo Kartli

Teniliტენილი

Very fat sheep and cow milk is set with rennet in 30–40 minutes; the curd is cut small, heated to 37 °C, gathered and left in forms to get ready for stretching. It is then melted about 200 g at a time and stretched by hand again and again into fine threads, brined for 2–3 hours, rinsed in a cheese-fat decoction and packed tightly into ceramic pots. The pots are pressed, drained and stored on wood ash at 10–11 °C.

Fully documentedCheese2.1 days – 3.2 daysGeographical indication (Georgia), registration No 5, 24 January 2012Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese family

Recipe

Tenili, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: ლევან ქოქიაშვილი, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives times and temperatures, not doses. Each bundle of threads weighs 100–150 g.
Very fat sheep and cow milk[tenili-gi]
Rennet (the specification calls the curd 'delamo', made from milk by enzyme)[tenili-gi]
Brine ('tsatkhi')[tenili-gi]
Cheese-fat decoction (13–26 %), for rinsing the threads[tenili-gi]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 days – 3.2 days

Start
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What changes: Rennet sets the rich sheep and cow milk

Step 1 of 6
Set with rennet
Time
30–40 min
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

At a glance

Very fat sheep and cow milk is set with rennet in 30–40 minutes; the curd is cut small, heated to 37 °C, gathered and left in forms to get ready for stretching. It is then melted about 200 g at a time and stretched by hand again and again into fine threads, brined for 2–3 hours, rinsed in a cheese-fat decoction and packed tightly into ceramic pots. The pots are pressed, drained and stored on wood ash at 10–11 °C. Made in 6 steps over 2.1 days – 3.2 days. The longest step, drain and store on ash, takes 2–3 days (Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia 2012) and runs at 10–11 °C (Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia 2012).

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysSet[tenili-gi]Drain and store on ash
Temperature10–11 °CSet[tenili-gi]Drain and store on ash

What makes this one different

Stretched by hand in small portions into very fine threads, rinsed in a cheese-fat decoction and pressed into ceramic pots, where it is kept cool on wood ash.

Composition
Moisture no more than 60 %; fat in dry matter no less than 45 %; salt 2–4 %
Size
Bundles of thin threads weighing 100–150 g

Related ferments

Safety

The specification sets no milk heat treatment; the pots are kept at 10–11 °C.

History and sources

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

A 2023 study based on ethnographic literature and local accounts says tenili is now made in two ways, differing in milk fat, the liquid used for hand-working the curd and the ripening vessel. A second 2023 study describes a traditional process (skimmed milk, naturally acidified milk for coagulation and hot whey) and a non-traditional one (milk without skimming, home-made rennet, and cheese heads cut into hot water); both end with the same hand-stretching step.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [tenili-gi] Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia, 'Tenili', registered in Georgia as a geographical indication No 5 (24 January 2012), specification as listed under the UK-Georgia agreementspec
  2. [nadirashvili2023] Nadirashvili N. 2023, Technology of the Georgian artisanal tenili cheese – current state and prospects of its production, Works of Georgian Technical University 4(530):26–35, doi:10.36073/1512-0996-2023-4-26-35 (abstract, via AGRIS)paper
  3. [nadirashvili2023-micro] Nadirashvili N., Amiranashvili L., Sordia E., Chollet S., Vandenberghe M. 2023, Microbiological, physical, chemical and sensory characteristics of artisanal Georgian tenili cheese, Works of Georgian Technical University 4(530) (abstract, via AGRIS)paper
  4. [nadirashvili2023-sensory] Nadirashvili N., Amiranashvili L., Chollet S., Vandenberghe M. 2023, Cross-cultural Study of Traditional Georgian Cheese Tenili Among Georgian and French Populations, International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research 71(1):52–57paper