Megrelian chvishtari
Megrelian chvishtari uses a maize dough with sulguni wrapped around a cheese piece, then cooks covered over low heat in a skillet.
Traditional method
Megrelian ajika
მეგრული აჯიკა · ajika · adjika
A documented Megrelian red pepper, garlic and herb paste with salt and ground spices. This preparation is mixed, not fermented; its source gives no validated preservation method or shelf life.
A regional family, not one fixed sauce
Ajika names a family of hot pepper pastes and seasonings associated with Abkhazian and western Georgian foodways. The Georgian intellectual-property specification distinguishes Abkhazian Apirpil-jika salt from Megrelian ajika rather than treating them as one identical recipe. The Ajika Festival account describes red, green and dry forms, and records the 2018 intangible cultural heritage designation for the Abkhazian and Megrelian preparation technologies. This page documents one exact Megrelian formula; it does not claim that every ajika contains its herbs or that tomato belongs in the traditional base.
The documented Megrelian batch
The cited recipe combines equal weights of hot and sweet red peppers with parsley, celery leaves, purple basil, garlic, fenugreek, dried coriander, dried marigold, dill and at least 50 g salt. It describes spreading the peppers and herbs overnight, removing pepper seeds, crushing the ingredients, seasoning and mixing. The author offers a hotter ratio by increasing hot peppers and reducing sweet peppers. The method does not cook or ferment the mixture. It gives no finished yield, validated drying conditions or storage life.
Serving and handling
The source serves this paste with meat and fish, uses it in cooking, especially chicken dishes, and mentions spreading it on bread. Wear gloves for hot-pepper handling, and avoid touching eyes or other sensitive skin while working. The overnight drying instruction is retained as part of the recipe but is not evidence that the peppers reach a moisture level safe for preservation. Salt quantity alone does not establish shelf stability. The formula contains no oil; garlic-in-oil warnings should not be misapplied to it. Sources establish no safe room-temperature storage duration or validated home preservation process, so this page makes no shelf-life claim.
History
A Georgian intellectual-property specification distinguishes Abkhazian Apirpil-jika salt and Megrelian ajika; it reports the 2018 intangible-heritage designation. These sources do not establish a first attestation date.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Hot red peppersRemove seeds; source advises gloves.
500 g
Sweet red peppersRemove seeds.
500 g
200 g
Celery leaves
150 g
Purple basil
150 g
GarlicPeel.
400 g
44 mL3 tbsp as recorded
Dried coriander
44 mL3 tbsp as recorded
Dried marigold
44 mL3 tbsp as recorded
DillFresh or dried.
30 mL2 tbsp as recorded
SaltAt least 50 g
At least 50 g
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Capsaicin contact
The recipe warns that handling hot pepper can burn fingers and hands.
Hazard sourceWear gloves when seeding and mixing the hot peppers, as the recipe source advises.
Control sourceOvernight drying and salt addition are not validated preservation steps. The cited recipe gives no safe storage duration or shelf-stability process; do not treat this paste as shelf stable.
- Spread the peppers and herbs on newspaper and leave overnight to dry, as the cited recipe directs. This step is not a validated preservation treatment.
- Wear gloves while handling hot peppers. Remove their seeds; remove seeds from the sweet peppers and peel the garlic.
- Grind both kinds of pepper. Crush the garlic, parsley, celery leaves and basil; the author used a meat grinder for the peppers.
- Combine the crushed ingredients with the fenugreek, dried coriander, dried marigold, dill and at least 50 g salt. Mix thoroughly, wearing gloves.
- Serve this paste with meat or fish, use it in cooking, especially chicken dishes, or spread it on bread.
Places
Samegrelo
Traditional preparation · Region evidenceThe recipe calls this a Megrelian form; the tourism account places the Ajika Festival in Samegrelo. This is a regional association, not a claim of origin.
Abkhazia
Traditional preparation · Region evidenceSources associate Abkhazian Apirpil-jika with the broader ajika family; this is not the recipe for that distinct preparation.
Related
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Sources
Georgian RecipesInspiration · Method
Megrelian AjikaThe page identifies a Megrelian variant and its use in Samegrelo and Abkhazia.
Ingredient amounts, overnight drying, grinding, seasoning, mixing, pepper-seeding and serving method for the documented batch.
The author advises gloves for hot-pepper handling.
No validated storage duration or preservation process is supplied.
National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia (Sakpatenti)History · Method
Geographical Indications: AjikaThe specification distinguishes classic Abkhazian Apirpil-jika, made with red hot pepper, salt, garlic and dried coriander, from Megrelian ajika.
It describes traditional pepper drying and grinding and changes in contemporary practice.
It describes the 2018 intangible cultural heritage designation for the two preparation technologies.
Legislative Herald of GeorgiaHistory
Order No. 02/67: intangible cultural heritage status for preparation technology of Abkhazian salt Apirpil-jika and Megrelian ajikaThe legal notice names Abkhazian Apirpil-jika and Megrelian ajika preparation technology as the subject of the 2018 designation.
Georgia Travel / Georgian National Tourism AdministrationHistory · Geography
Ajika FestivalDescribes red, green and dry ajika forms; associates the tradition with Samegrelo and Abkhazia.
Names chili pepper, garlic, salt and spices as common ingredients and notes the 2018 heritage designation.