The Original Warrior Energy Bar

Churchkhela has been a favored snack in many countries for thousands of years. However, despite this, it is still relatively unknown to the wider world. People not familiar with the food often mistake its appearance for a whole number of things ranging from sausages to sticks of dynamite!
Naili Basiladze shows us how to make a traditional Georgian churchkhela with grapes harvested from her own vineyard. Strings of nuts are repeatedly dipped in a mixture of grape juice and flour. Once dry, the finished result is a deliciously sweet stick of churchkhela.
Churchkhela’s extremely long shelf life is a testament to its historical use. Being naturally rich in the calories found within the grape juice, it provided sustenance to Georgian soldiers who would often need to travel long distances.
#Georgia #Food #Churchkhela
00:00 What's that?
00:14 It's Churchkhela!
00:44 How do you make it?
02:09 Churchkhela's special properties
02:55 Take one for the road!
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[@GreatBigStory]

YUM! 😍 Like this if you've tried churchkhela before! ☺

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

When I lived in Georgia, I loved to see them hanging everywhere! They have such a unique texture and flavor. ❤️

[@alex-E7WHU]

I've had them in Cyprus, with Brazil nuts inside.👍 Delicious.

[@ferretyluv]

I have, but it was from Cyprus and called something different.

[@Eli-vj2wc]

I wish!

[@andrewweaver2517]

I haven't yet, but I'm gonna!

[@lymb3914]

Watching a sweet, knowledgeable old lady sharing a traditional candy from an often overlooked nation is _certainly_ the most wholesome three minutes I've spent on KZbin in literal weeks.

[@augustsmith9553]

Sounds like we should be getting off of KZbin when you say it like this

[@gaki8844]

WHOLESOME

[@naufalmEZa]

The teeth joke she made seals it, cool granny

[@GreatBigStory]

We love wholesome content, it’s always needed. Glad you enjoyed the story 🫶☺️

[@BillyJupiter]

The pure frickin joy! She oozes a life of passion. I don't know the english but uninhabitioned?; With ease, Very Natural

[@mayonnaiseeee]

I was playing Civilization VI yesterday and the Georgian leader sent over churchkhelas in a delegation as a sign of friendship. I was wondering what they were, perfect timing.

[@alishegamer8490]

Had these throughout my childhood. Glad to see somebody talking about them online. I don't know a person who knows about them

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

I know, I was so surprised to get this notification! Fills me with many memories. ❤️🇬🇪

[@stanislavkorniienko1523]

I'm Ukrainian, and in my childhood i had a lot of it. Maybe the reason is that we love Georgian cuisine and it's really popular here.

[@mamatapandey6073]

these look delicious but won't they get sour after sometimes the anchor said it had shelflife of 1 yeah r

[@Myndness]

Was in Georgia about 16 years ago and had lots of those at the beach where they were sold. Really nice snack. Georgian Cousine really was nice, had lots of khazapuri and other things I don't remember the name of.

[@davidmiller9220]

Haha! I ate these in Belarus, but no one has ever heard of them! My wife from Russia had never seen it. But they are great!

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

When I lived in Georgia, I loved seeing these hanging everywhere. I ate them many times! I miss Georgia so much... 🇬🇪❤️

[@user-vi3lg1uh8t]

you were first

[@rifwann]

How the grape layer taste, i have a hard time imagining it.

[@GreatBigStory]

🥹❤️

[@14_Femboy_88]

@@rifwann almost like a jelly.

[@lukabaratashvili8984]

Like dry grapey jelly@@rifwann

[@ownageDan]

it's for stories like this that i'm so happy Great Big Story has returned. love it :)

[@mclovelacenoether]

You are totally right! I do share that sentiment too.

[@watch-LuoXiaoHei-please]

Agreed, best channel in my personal view

[@GreatBigStory]

Thank you for your kind thoughts. We hope to live up to your expectations in the months ahead.

[@vwings01]

This is one of the reasons I'm so glad that the Great Big Story channel is back. I get to learn about new cultures, new food, interesting personalities and more. The lady in the video has a great way of telling her story and she's got a pretty good sense of humour too!

[@GreatBigStory]

And we are happy to be back. Thank you for watching and commenting.

[@akshayrvndrn]

Yes glad you are back

[@dominicclarke3211]

@@GreatBigStoryhere here!

[@JonahTV]

Georgian is such a cool sounding language, I loved listening to her speak

[@DemetriosLevi]

Just as exotic as their alphabet...my favorite language along with Greek

[@ChellaCanada]

Glad to see Churchkhela getting some spotlight! We produce it in Canada and have noticed it start to grow very quickly in North America.

[@stargirl7646]

Oh really??? Is it possible to buy some from the US?? That’s so cool!

[@simonsaysism]

Ahhh noo I visited vancouver recently, I wish I'd known about you

[@user-tk4gr9zo7t]

Just made sure to have your website saved on my phone so I can order some soon!!! 💖🍇

[@AMTunLimited]

That grandma hug at the end 😢

[@iamvinku]

That little old lady is so sweet mesmerizing. I could sit down and listen to her wholesome stories for hours. So soothing!

[@veggiemush]

First story should be how she lost her teeth

[@trash2638]

over here in turkey we call it cevizli sucuk! (turkish salami with walnuts) it is more transparent in color, and thicker. the color is usually a darker vibrant brown too. my favorite kind is one that also has pomegranate juice in it. its a beautiful dark pink color and tastes so sweet. real tasty!

[@ayacu578]

Yes :)

[@milkmanSandro]

wonder where turkey stole it from

[@Whiteshade]

@@milkmanSandro nice bait

[@milkmanSandro]

@@Whiteshade I dont bait I just talk the truth

[@Whiteshade]

@@milkmanSandro nice second bait

[@carlcrossgrove9009]

In the Russian neighborhood of San Francisco in the 1990s, I found these in a grocery store and had to try them. They look odd but it’s a satisfying snack. Not too sugary, interesting texture, and it’s likely the Russian family making them had their own walnut trees, so the nuts in the center were fresh and sweet.

[@user-vs9cz9pm1n]

As many people from former Soviet Union, these people may not have been Russian actually:) I don't know a single Russian family to make these Churchkhellas, and I'm Russian who lived near Georgian border:)

[@primarchjackfrost8117]

I won't look at candlesticks the same way again

[@LordBrittish]

Yeah, why do I want to bite a candlestick now?! 😂

[@someperson1180]

Finally someone is appreciating the Georgian cuisine

[@bingus282]

Georgian cuisine is basically Russia's Mexican cuisine

[@erroneous6947]

If you want something old fashioned done right ask a grandma. This lady was adorable.

[@calihhan4706]

As long as I remember, I always wanted to visit Georgia. It's so full of history, culture, myths... And pretty interesting food! ❤

[@jivkoyanchev1998]

We have the same type of sweet in Bulgaria. We call it Mastenitsa or Balsudjuk. Love to the Georgian brothers!

[@viannejacks4591]

There's georgian' bakery in my area and they started selling churchkhela. I like trying new things and it looked weird so I went for it. As a big fan of nuts and dry fruits, I quite loved it 😃 It's not too sweet so the taste of all ingredients doesnt get overwhelmed by sugar. Wouldnt call it my favorites, but its yumny treat and its healthier than regular bars with nuts 😊

[@69cheesyfries]

this is how i wanna be when i grow old. sweet and funny and full of life.

[@mosesbuddhajesus3362]

Oh my mom used to bring this from Georgia! They are so yummy, and mild tasting. They are great.

[@user-hz2hp7yn4d]

Thankyou, this is what I love about KZbin etc, quality and interesting content like this :) What a lovely lady and fun production :)

[@rishijusia3050]

Finally found some information about these it was so hard to look for online. The local turkish shop sells pomegranate versions of these and they're addictively good. Not too sweet, perfect texture with the mix of gummy and walnuts. My best food find by far this year and I recommend it to anyone I can.

[@mr.100rupees3]

This is very popular in Cyprus too, but we use almonds

[@GeorgeChipo]

uuuww.. that sounds good, too.

[@thispeen]

I got one of these at a persian market once, it was labeled as grape molasses and it had those walnuts in them too.

[@lonesomebookworm4345]

We make these over here in Cyprus too! We call them shoushoukos! Personally I'm much more fond of the liquid/jelly form called palouzes, but seeing the thumbnail on this one still lit firecrackers in my head haha

[@OrangeJews1138]

from experience, shoushoukos are way more soft/grainy, with churchkhela you really gotta exercise them jaw muscles

[@22poopoo]

​@@OrangeJews1138it depends. Cypriot sujouko can be really hard too. You can get 'skortho' hard ones.

[@ololoye]

Дай бог бабуле здоровья!

[@lyrroht4472]

საქართველოს გაუმარჯოს 🗣️🗣️

[@martinebon4333]

This is the reason i travel! I tried this when i was in Georgia and it tasted better than any candy i had

[@tastyneck]

I'd hella take churchkhela with Nutella to Coachella with the fellas.

[@akamal92]

Don't forget your umbrella!

[@julietellsthetruth4811]

Que bella! Love the taste and smell-a, while watching a telenovela.

[@tastyneck]

@@julietellsthetruth4811 lmao

[@Sjalabais]

Beautiful! Delightful snacks that have a wide variety of tastes given how similar they really are.

[@sugarfree1009]

This culture and knowledge should be preserved❤❤.

[@Graham567]

Oh, we have this one in Turkey as well! Not as colorful, but there are many flavor and filling variants. It's called "sucuk", or sausage. My older neighbor left her apartment as she moved onto the countryside. Yesterday she came back to see some of her friends after a few years, and she gave the whole apartment plenty of this! She's very generous because in today's economy this is really really expensive.

[@crazy808ish]

I knew this seemed familiar! The channel called Country Life Vlog had a very nice video about making Sucuk earlier this year

[@Mansory811]

Lmao, i was at first confused because sucuk is also a garlic sausage but after a bit research , you were indeed right, these also are called sucuk, learnt something new !

[@ecenbt]

​@@Mansory811to be very specific, we call these "cevizli sucuk" (walnut sudjuk) to differentiate them from the actual meat sudjuk, but just sudjuk as a shorthand is acceptable. And yes, the name indeed comes from the meat sudjuk, because the shape of it is really similar to actual meat sudjuk

[@harshalcharadva8143]

She is so sweet, made me remember my granny.

[@VCV95]

Oh my gosh she is adorable! You can tell this is a passion of hers!

[@stargirl7646]

These sound delicious! I would love to try them one day! 😃 They sound deceptively simple to make haha - I almost want to try but they might not turn out well! Also it’s so cool how they’re dipped like candles!

[@DursunX]

brings back memories from my overseas trip as a child. had these in Turkiye, but cant find them in Australia. Greetings to Georgia 🇬🇪 and Turkiye 🇹🇷

[@holisticmaya]

Freaking love Georgia! gamarjoba, didi Madloba ❤

[@wlynn_]

It is extremely interesting to hear about the recipe for this delicacy. It would be cool to try to repeat this at home! However, I didn't even know that churchkhela is from Georgia, it's amazing! The video attracted my attention with its content, I immediately wanted to eat something delicious)

[@wow1371]

Georgian food is really good. I have been to Georgia twice and want to visit them again ♥️

[@EBThisThat]

These look delightful and the little candymaker is absolutely adorable! Her laugh is contagious!

[@sixthousandblankets]

I'm so glad you guys came back.

[@andrewweaver2517]

Oh my God. I've got to find this woman and listen to her stories.

[@mike-df3qo]

LESGOOOOO churchxela got it's recognition. Lesgo qartvelebooo

[@lagoya]

This is great, I bet I could make these with pecans and muscadines

[@nini5603]

tbh you could, would be interesting lol

[@geligniteandlilies]

People say humans don’t like to work, but good, honest and relatively fair work is good for us! Work you are proud of. I would love to do this or make cheese by hand. Thank you for sharing this. What a wonderful story.

[@zukacs]

გაგიმარჯოთ!!!

[@elenabarskaya7127]

They are a real timeless treat from Georgian culture. Love them! They are sold in Russian neighborhood of New York (Brighton Beach).

[@clintwestwood1895]

That sweet granny who makes the churchkhela has a wonderful happy aura.

[@nigelis2345]

Gerogia is on the list of countries I want to visit.

[@ninjanana102]

I would love to try these! Yummy!

[@RyanMauroDesign]

I need to try these now.

Great to see you're back!

[@sirinsiss4111]

Ah! i clearly remember readimg about this in a childrens magazine from India. I wanted to eat them at that time. Looks delicious. You cant imagine how happy i am to find this in a youtube video again !!!

[@SAmaryllis]

How cool! I hadn't heard of this before, I'm glad to learn about a new food today

[@jenojaemin1730]

*I'M SO GLAD, GREAT BIG STORY IS BACK 😭*

[@benhurj]

You guys are back! Im so happy

[@Inquisitor_Vex]

No joke, this looks amazing!

[@rikabernar]

It's one of the best sweets EVER ❤

[@Piemasteratron]

Yet another reason why I want to visit Georgia 🙂

[@red_ashcroft]

Recipes like this fascinate me so much so I collected them and kept them and some have been recreated as part of my collection. You may never know when you need to stock up in case of emergencies.

[@rikihihinashvili792]

Love this sweet😊 Cant wait until my next visit to this country

[@thorpe820]

How wonderful and wholesome ❤

[@pamelabratton2501]

I LOVE these things! They are awesome and I want to try making them myself. Thank you for the video and recipe ideas! I got mine near Dallas, Texas, at a Middle East grocery store. They even sold fresh Jujubes!

[@LiliyaPanina]

These are delicious! My dad went to visit family living by the black sea, and they sell them everywhere around the beaches! He brought back a few strings for us, oh happy days

[@julietellsthetruth4811]

OMG I WANNA TRY THESE SO MUCH!!!

[@aravindulgent]

I didn't expected to like Georgian cuisine as much as i did when i visited lol Even my infamously picky dad loved Georgian food lol Much love from India 🇮🇳

[@gobilamb6085]

im just so glad GBS is back ❤❤❤

[@GrettaNanners]

a coworker of mine brought this over from latvia and it was AMAZING!!! if you havent had it- its kinda like a welch's grape juice flavored licorice with walnuts in the middle! super awesome combo

[@raelarken7839]

We called as "Cevizli Sucuk" in Türkiye 🇹🇷 best combination of molasses and walnuts 🤤

[@ridvandalgic]

Yanlis anlamayin ama cevizli sucuk, hic yaratici bir isim degil. Hic olmazsa Elazig tarafinda orcik denir, onu soylemk istedim. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcik_candy

[@wyattrierson3967]

Georgia tea that brings back memories 😊

[@elfoxtrot5779]

Never tried, now want to do it myself :) thanks for sharing!

[@svire3370]

Omg these are so good! Taste better and leave you feeling much better after than any storebought candy! ❤❤❤

[@iz6566]

For those overly enthusiastic, just a kind reminder that churchhella can really disturb your stomach and guts, especially if you’re not accustomed to such food. Depending on the kind of grapes and cleanness of nut (walnuts can get moldy), it can also do damage to your guts biome. So try it slow and always choose from a trusted seller, always. Not joking here, as I grew up in the culture where we have access to this food.

[@ozertayiz]

In Turkey we call them Cevizli Sucuk. Yummy!

[@artofescapism]

very interesting and informative, thank you! I love to learn this kind of thing!

[@nikitamorrison7207]

Such a wonderful channel

[@WroobelChannel]

Hey, that's amazing idea, never heard of it. Gotta try do some myself, and visit Georgia one day. Much love from Poland!

[@kenani3668]

i love them. I‘ve seen and eaten them in turkey and Azebaijani too. wish i could visit georgia too in the future

[@drerri]

I ate 1 every day I was in Georgia last summer they are the best

[@Shastavalleyoutdoorsman]

I've watched this video like twenty times. I've got to try this myself they looked delicious.

[@Seanadurana]

In love with her house!!

[@Andrew.is.making.something]

Ohhh to be an old lady that makes churchkhela so happily on a sunny day

[@alfblack2]

this is awsome to know. thank you for the vid

[@Demitry0013]

This looks interesting, and delicious and I want to try it

[@KombuchaBuzzed]

Just placed an order of assorted churchkhelas. I’m betting they taste as good as they look. I love trying new foods. Thank you for posting this.

[@Patrick.Weightman]

Bro that stuff sounds BOMB

[@Blackarot77]

She looks and reminds me of my grandma 🥰

[@cristinagarrido3930]

Honestly, this is the most badass fruit snack i've known of

[@kaceesavage]

I want to try this more than any other sweet treat I have never tried.

[@aztecgoldmontizuma]

So cool

[@adventurecreations3214]

I love her.

[@reverieanimates887]

My dad used to live in Georgia. Now, we’re living in New York.

[@AlenaMcMahan]

I want to try some! It sounds delicious. ❤

[@rickwilliams967]

Wunderbar! That wonder bar looks interesting

[@equintrinity8678]

I can't wait to try one of these above-average sized energy bars

[@kam_iko]

love the house.

[@moonshadow2724]

This was nice to watch

[@clarke.v.5020]

Looks so good

[@ShizaruBloodrayne]

Now this is an obscure food that I need to try!