Walnut Roll

Churchkhela is a long string of nuts that have been dipped repeatedly in concentrated fresh grape juice (badagi) to form a confection. Sami Zubaida, an authority on Iraqi cuisine, remembers a similar preparation from his childhood, which he and his friends called a “judge’s prick.” I encountered no similar moniker in Georgia; however, Georgian soldiers did carry churchkhela on their military campaigns, since a single piece contains enough calories for a whole day. What’