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Cheese from Georgia, Pshavi and Tianeti

Dambalkhachoდამბალხაჭო

Do, made from cow milk (the registration calls it the whey of cottage cheese; Slow Food and the Georgian tourism administration say it is the curd left after churning butter), is heated to 50–60 °C, squeezed in cloth bags for 10–12 hours, salted and kneaded into balls of 150–250 g. The balls dry for several days in a warm room out of the sun, then ripen 1–2 months in a covered ceramic pot in a cool place, where bacteria of the cultured milk product and penicillin mould ripen it into a piquant, spicy cheese.

Fully documentedCheese31 days – 2 monthsGeographical indication (Georgia, No 16, 2012); Slow Food Ark of TasteFamily: Ripened acid-curd cheese family (Harzer, Olomoucké tvarůžky, Gamalost)

Recipe

Dambalkhacho, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: ბექა ბაიაშვილი (Beqabai), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe registration gives no amounts; each ball weighs 150–250 g.
Do, from cow milkThe registration calls it the lactoserum (whey) of cottage cheese; Slow Food and the Georgian National Tourism Administration describe buttermilk cottage cheese left after churning butter, so the sources disagree on what it is[damb-gi][slowfood-damb][gnta-damb]
SaltEnough for 2–4% in the cheese[damb-gi]

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days – 2 months

Start
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50–60 °C

What changes: The shaken do is heated and the cottage cheese separates out

Step 1 of 5
Heat the do
Time
Not documented
Temperature
50–60 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Slow Food records that it is usually made in May, when milk yields are highest.

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

Do, made from cow milk (the registration calls it the whey of cottage cheese; Slow Food and the Georgian tourism administration say it is the curd left after churning butter), is heated to 50–60 °C, squeezed in cloth bags for 10–12 hours, salted and kneaded into balls of 150–250 g. The balls dry for several days in a warm room out of the sun, then ripen 1–2 months in a covered ceramic pot in a cool place, where bacteria of the cultured milk product and penicillin mould ripen it into a piquant, spicy cheese. Made in 5 steps over 31 days – 2 months. The longest step, ripen in a covered pot, takes 30 days – 2 months (Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia 2012). Salt is 2–4 % (Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia 2012). Bacteria of the cultured milk product and Penicillium mould, which ripen the cheese does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 2 monthsSet[damb-gi][slowfood-damb]Ripen in a covered pot
Temperature50–60 °CSet[damb-gi]Heat the do
Salt2–4 %Set[damb-gi]Salt and knead into balls

What makes this one different

Made from do, a buttermilk or whey curd, rather than fresh milk, dried into balls and then sealed in a pot so the mould grows in a cool, closed space.

Milk
Cow milk; made from the buttermilk curd left after butter
Ripening
1–2 months in a covered ceramic pot
Composition
Moisture at most 50%, fat in dry matter at least 10–15%, salt 2–4%; balls of 150–250 g

Related ferments

Safety

The registration sets moisture at no more than 50% and salt at 2–4% in the finished cheese.

History and sources

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

Registered as a Georgian geographical indication on 24 January 2012. The Georgian National Tourism Administration lists it among the monuments of Georgia's intangible cultural heritage and says its long keeping made it a strategic food that soldiers ate in wartime. Slow Food lists it in the Ark of Taste because the slow method means it is now rarely made.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [damb-gi] Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia, 'Dambalkhacho', registered in Georgia as a geographical indication No 16 (24 January 2012), specification as published by the UK governmentspec
  2. [slowfood-damb] Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Ark of Taste, 'Dambalkhacho'web
  3. [gnta-damb] Georgian National Tourism Administration, 'Dambalkhacho' and 'Types of Georgian Cheese', georgia.travelweb