Becho Valley

At the top end of the Becho Valley is hotel and restaurant Grand Hotel Ushba, a small rural affair despite its grandiose name. The hotel is off the main track, surrounded by hillsides of wild yellow azaleas and magnificent views of the mountains. Its Scandinavian owner’s æsthetic of country chic, pale pine furniture and thick duvets provides a cosy place to stay and offers a great base to hike or ride from. The communal dining room hosts meals for residents and non-residents (if you book ahead), prepared in the small kitchen at the back. The cooking is shared by several people, one of whom is Meri Guledali. Meri’s a fine chef, and divides her time between the hotel and teaching at the local school. I asked her what people ate during the long cold winters. “Everyone here spends the summer and autumn preparing for winter,” she says. “We store vegetables in root cellars and make preserves from fruits. We also make a lot of fermented vegetables, from cabbages to cucumbers. We always have good supplies of dairy products and of course we butcher the pigs in winter too.” She describes one of her favourite winter preserves, fermented cabbage and beets. “You slice a whole white cabbage, stir it with a minced red chilli, a large spoonful of vinegar and another of salt. Then you boil four beetroot / beets. You slice them too, mix them with the cabbage, and pack them into sterilized jars. Add garlic, bay leaves and dried dill. Then pour in the beets’ cooking water, but don’t fill the jars too full or they’ll spill over during fermentation. After about a week at room temperature the cabbage will be tender. Then you can store the jars in a cool place for several months.”