ტენილი / Tenili
Tenili is a Georgian string cheese from Meskheti, made from sheep's milk and packed into a clay pot to mature. It takes the most complicated production techniques of any Georgian cheese and sits on UNESCO's world heritage list.
Key Facts
| Country of Origin | Georgia |
| Specific Origin | Meskheti, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia |
| Protection | GI (2014) |
| Milk Type | Sheep |
| Milk Treatment | Raw |
| Texture | Fine strands, stretched and folded |
| Forms | Cut strands packed into a clay pot |
| Age | About 2 months |
| Alternative Spellings | t'enili |
| Also Known As | ტენილი ყველი, t'enili q'veli, stuffed cheese |
What is ტენილი / Tenili Cheese?
Tenili comes from Meskheti, in the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. The name means stuffed cheese, after the clay pot the strands are packed into at the end. Families and dairy companies still make it, but only in small quantities. It is considered the most technically demanding cheese in Georgia and is enrolled in UNESCO's world heritage list.
Production starts with fresh sheep's milk left to stand until cream rises. The cream is skimmed off and set aside, and the milk rests for 24 hours. The cheesemaker then braids the mass, stretching and folding it while dipping it constantly into hot whey, a stage that runs up to 25 minutes.
Once the mass has pulled into fine strands, it goes into cold water and is handled so the strands stay separate. A 15 minute soak in salted water follows. The cheese then hangs over a wooden bar for 10 hours to drain and dry. The strands are cut, left on a table under a towel for one or two days, and coated with the cream skimmed off at the start.
For maturation the cheese is stuffed tightly into a clay pot so no air pockets remain. The pot is turned upside down with its mouth on a board covered in ash, which pulls out the residual cream as it drains. The cheese stays that way for roughly two months.
How Does ტენილი / Tenili Cheese Compare?
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