How to make suluguni cheese at home

Many people believe that Georgian Suluguni cheese is a braided pigtail or thin sticks, but this misconception is extremely erroneous. The classic recipe has nothing to do with a hard smoked product, suluguni refers to soft cheeses. On its basis, second courses, salads, snacks are prepared, often suluguns are used with bread and herbs. To fully enjoy a quality product, it is enough to cook it at home.

What is Suluguni cheese

1. Suluguni looks like cheese, it belongs to the category of soft cheeses in brine. The final product is not covered with a crust, which usually appears after prolonged ripening.
2. As a rule, the preparation of suluguni is not limited to any framework. However, many people prefer to withstand cheese in a solution of salt, lemon or grape juice. The main advantage of suluguni is considered to be that cheese can be prepared from any kind of milk (cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, etc.).
3. If we talk about classical technology, it is better to cook suluguni from sheep’s milk. But many people know that it is extremely difficult to get it. For this reason, many housewives learned to improvise, ultimately receiving an equally exquisite product.
4. Perhaps one of the most important features of cooking suluguni is that it is prepared without emulsifiers and preservatives. Since synthetic components are completely absent, at the end you get a natural and healthy cheese.
5. It is believed that suluguni is most recommended for use by children and people with diseases of rheumatism, arthritis and other ailments caused by insufficient calcium in the body.
6. Suluguni has a fairly wide scope. It is added to pastries, fried, baked and smoked as an independent snack. Cheese is also added to salads, main dishes, wrapped in pita bread or spread on bread.
7. Georgian dish khachapuri is prepared on the basis of suluguni. Also, many chefs successfully combine pickled cheese with olives, olives, purple onions, cucumbers and beans. Suluguni decorate fish and meat, then watered with table vinegar.

Features of the preparation of suluguni

Depending on the selected recipe, you need to take care of the main ingredients and improvised means. They will be required in the process of making cheese.

1. Pepsin. The classic Suluguni recipe includes this enzyme. Pepsin can be purchased at the pharmacy; it is available in the form of a powder or solution (10%). In the second case, one ampoule has a volume of about 10 ml.
2. Sour cream. This ingredient is not required in all recipes. Nevertheless, if you prefer the technology of cooking suluguni based on sour cream, buy a product with a fat content of 30%. The consistency should be medium, no need to take too thick or liquid composition.
3. Milk. If possible, get a high-quality home (farm) composition; raw milk is used to make suluguni. Refuse pasteurized fat-free composition, otherwise the taste and quality of suluguni will suffer. In some cases, the cheese may not curl at all, all efforts will come to naught.
4. Handy materials. In the process of cooking, milk will be divided into cottage cheese and whey. You need to prepare a gauze or cotton cloth, with which you can squeeze and strain the product. You will also need a culinary thermometer that allows you to fully comply with the technology.Other improvised materials (dishes, cutlery, etc.) you will find in your kitchen, depending on the recipe.

Suluguni based on sour cream

• sour cream (fat content from 30%) - 235 ml.
• fresh dill - 1 bunch
• milk - 2.2 l.
• 4 eggs
• seasoning to taste
• salt - 40 gr.

1. No need to defend milk and skim cream from it. Pour the product into a pan with a thick bottom, put on the stove, bring to the appearance of the first bubbles at medium power. Reduce heat, add salt and stir vigorously to dissolve the granules.
2. Pour sour cream into a separate deep container, break eggs to it and mix with a fork / whisk. You can use the mixer at low speed, the main thing is to bring the composition to uniformity. Make sure that there are no air bubbles in the mass.
3. While milk is simmering on a fire, slowly pour whipped mixture of eggs and sour cream to it. Wash, dry and chop the dill, also send to the pan. Pour seasonings (optional). Wait until the milk begins to coagulate. You will see large flakes on the surface.
4. After separating the composition into whey and cottage cheese, simmer the mass on the stove for another 5-7 minutes, then turn off the burner. Prepare a colander or kitchen strainer, line the cavity with a gauze cloth folded in 4 layers. Move the curd into the bowl.
5. Leave in this state for a quarter of an hour, then tie the corners of the gauze together, forming a bag. Squeeze the composition with your hands, place the cottage cheese under the press. To properly build oppression, send the composition to the pan, cover with a plate and place a five-liter bottle on top.
6. The remaining serum will come out after 3-5 hours, you need to periodically drain the resulting liquid. After the specified time, unfold the finished suluguni, move it into a plastic container or a dense plastic bag. Keep in the refrigerator.

Suluguni cream cheese

• milk - 2.8 l.
• pepsin - 1 pinch
• salt - 70 gr.
• drinking water - 1.9 l.

1. Dilute pepsin in 25 ml. cold drinking water, knead until the granules are completely dissolved. Pour the milk into an enamel pan and heat it to 45 degrees.
2. Once the dairy product reaches the desired level, turn off the hotplate and add dissolved pepsin. Mix very gently, cover and leave the composition for 30 minutes.
3. After the allotted time, open the lid, evaluate the result. If the surface of the milk “springs”, cut the composition into small pieces so that the whey leaves quickly. Wait a quarter of an hour again, then mix the product with a wooden spatula.
4. Cover a colander or strainer with gauze folded in 3 layers. Tie a cloth into a bag, squeeze out excess fluid by hand. Hang the product over a deep dish or sink, leave for 1.5 hours until the whey completely drains.
5. Prepare the brine by mixing salt and drinking water. Bring the composition to complete dissolution of the crystals, then remove the cheese from the cloth and immerse in brine. Soak the product for about 5 hours at natural temperature.
6. At the end of the period, remove the cheese, chop it into small pieces. Pour boiling water into the pan, immerse cheese cubes in it so that the liquid completely covers the product, but does not rise above it.
7. You will notice that the water will begin to melt the cheese. Mix the composition with a spatula until the mass becomes plastic. After that, begin to stretch the cheese so that it becomes layered.
8. Line the sieve with gauze, pour the finished product into it and tie the knot. Hang the cheese over a bowl to a glass serum (about 1.5 hours). Make another brine from water and salt, taking the above proportions. Transfer the cream cheese to a liquid, wait 6 hours.

Goat milk suluguni

• pepsin - on the tip of a knife
• cow's milk - 270 ml.
• goat milk - 4.7 l.
• yogurt - 250 ml.
• salt - 15 gr.

1. Dilute the pepsin with cow's milk, leave for half an hour.After the time has passed, strain the resulting sourdough through 2 layers of cheesecloth, heat on a stove to 35 degrees.
2. In a different container, bring goat milk to 40 degrees, then pour in the yogurt and pepsin-based sourdough. Leave the pan at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. After the milk begins to curl, place it on the stove. Add salt, wait for the crystals to dissolve. Preheat the mass to 40 degrees.
4. Line the colander with gauze, move the finished product into it, tie it into a bag. Leave to drain for 3 hours, placing a plate and a press on top of the cheese.

Suluguni based on lemon juice

• milk - 2 l.
• lemon juice - 55 ml.
• small salt - 75 gr.

1. Heat the milk on the stove to a temperature of 40 degrees, stir constantly so that the composition does not stick on the walls of the dishes.
2. After the first bubbles appear, pour in the lemon juice, pour in the salt (15 g) and wait for the granules to dissolve. Such a step will help milk to quickly divide into cottage cheese and whey.
3. After you see that on the surface flakes of cottage cheese began to appear, simmer the composition for another 5 minutes, then turn off the burner. Prepare a colander or kitchen strainer, line with three layers of gauze.
4. Using a slotted spoon, put the cottage cheese in a container, tie the cloth in a tight bag, leave it to drain off (about 2 hours). If possible, suspend suluguni so that the whey drains off faster.
5. After you see that the liquid no longer separates from the curd, proceed with the preparation of the brine. Dilute the remaining 60 g. salt in two liters of boiled water, mix.
6. When the granules dissolve, remove the cheese and remove it from the cheesecloth. Put in the brine for 6 hours, and then proceed to the tasting. Store in the refrigerator for no longer than 15 days.

It is easy to cook Suluguni cheese at home, if you adhere to one of the above technologies. Consider a recipe based on goat or cow's milk, make pepsin and lemon juice sourdough.

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