Homemade Suluguni Cheese
The tastiest cheese, made from ordinary ingredients, and wholesome! Homemade suluguni contains no preservatives, dyes, or flavor enhancers — only natural ingredients. I thought making cheese at home would be hard, but it worked the very first time!
Cooking method
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Step 1:
How do you make homemade suluguni? Get all the ingredients ready. The best milk for cheese is farm-fresh. If all you have is store-bought, choose one with the shortest shelf life that isn't ultra-pasteurized, at least 3.2% fat. The cottage cheese is also better on the richer side, at least 9%, good quality, with no milk-fat substitutes.
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Step 2:
Take a large heavy-bottomed pot, pour in the milk, and bring it to a boil. Then add the cottage cheese to the milk in batches. Keep cooking the milk-and-curd mixture over low heat, stirring constantly so nothing scorches. Cook for 4–5 minutes, until the whey separates.
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Step 3:
Next, set a sieve over another deep container or pot and line the sieve with cheesecloth. Strain the mixture.
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Step 4:
Once the whey has drained, put the cheese mass into a clean pot. Add the eggs, the soft butter, the baking soda, and the salt. Mix everything thoroughly. Set the pot over low heat and cook the cheese for another 10–15 minutes, stirring constantly. Then take it off the heat.
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Step 5:
Take the container you'll set the cheese in — ideally a deep one like a bowl or container. Grease it with butter and put the cheese mass in it. Refrigerate the cheese for 2–3 hours, or overnight if you can.
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Step 6:
As an experiment, I set aside some of the curd-milk mass, took a small container, and lined it with cheesecloth. I poured the cheese mass in and tied the cheesecloth tightly on top with a rubber band. I refrigerated this one too. The result was a cheese with an interesting shape and, thanks to the cheesecloth, a pretty texture.
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Step 7:
After the time is up, take out the suluguni and carefully turn it out of the mold. Enjoy!
- Suluguni is a cheese from Georgia — a lightly salted brined cheese. You can eat it on its own as a snack, or use it in all sorts of dishes: khachapuri (cheese-filled bread), fried suluguni, achma (a layered cheese pastry), various vegetable salads, pies, and much more.
- Always wash eggs before using them, since even a shell that looks clean can carry harmful bacteria. A food-safe wash and a brush work best.
- How do you tell if an egg is fresh? Crack it into a separate bowl. First, there should be no off smell. The white of a fresh egg is clear and clean. The yolk shouldn't spread — it stays shiny, domed, and uniform.
- Since everyone's preferred level of salt, sweetness, bitterness, sharpness, acidity, and heat is different, always add spices and seasonings to your own taste! If you're using a particular seasoning for the first time, keep in mind that some are especially easy to overdo (chili pepper, for example).
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Whole cow's milk - 68 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.5% fat content - 64 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.2% fat content - 60 kcal/100g
- Milk 1.5% fat content - 47 kcal/100g
- Concentrated milk 7.5% fat content - 140 kcal/100g
- Milk 2.5% fat content - 54 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese of 40% fat content - 466 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese of 20% fat content - 233 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese of 18% fat content - 226 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese of 10% fat content - 156 kcal/100g
- Low-fat cottage cheese - 75 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese with sour cream - 260 kcal/100g
- Fruit cottage cheese - 147 kcal/100g
- Soft dietary cottage cheese - 170 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese 'vitalinia' - 64 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese 'morning' ( 'danone') without sugar - 91 kcal/100g
- Cottage cheese - 156 kcal/100g
- Butter 82% - 734 kcal/100g
- Amateur unsalted butter - 709 kcal/100g
- Unsalted peasant butter - 661 kcal/100g
- Peasant salted butter - 652 kcal/100g
- Melted butter - 869 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Baking soda - 0 kcal/100g
- Chicken egg - 80 kcal/100g
