Georgian Foraged Nettle-Walnut Pesto with Wild Garlic and Dehydrated Sulguni

Ingredients

• ▸200g fresh stinging nettle tops, young leaves only, blanched 30 seconds and squeezed dry
• ▸80g sulguni cheese (or other Georgian sheep's milk cheese), thinly sliced
• ▸100g raw Georgian walnuts, lightly toasted
• ▸40g wild garlic leaves (ramsons), washed and roughly torn
• ▸2 cloves regular garlic, peeled
• ▸60ml cold-pressed walnut oil, plus extra to finish
• ▸1 tbsp unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• ▸1 tsp dried fenugreek (utskho suneli), ground
• ▸0.5 tsp dried marigold petals (imeruli zafrana), ground
• ▸0.5 tsp dried coriander seed, ground
• ▸0.25 tsp dried chilli flakes
• ▸1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus more to taste
• ▸2 tbsp cold water, as needed to loosen

Instructions

1. 1

   1. DEHYDRATE THE CHEESE: Preheat your dehydrator to 57°C (135°F). Arrange the thinly sliced sulguni in a single layer on a mesh dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for 2.5 to 3 hours until the slices are completely dry, hard, and pale golden — they should snap cleanly and smell intensely of sour milk and grass. If you don't have a dehydrator, use your oven on its lowest setting with the door cracked open. Allow to cool completely on the tray.

2. 2

   2. DEHYDRATE THE NETTLE PULP: Blanch your nettle tops in boiling salted water for 30 seconds (this neutralises the sting — do not skip this), drain immediately into ice water, then squeeze out every drop of moisture you can. Spread the squeezed nettle paste thinly across a second dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 52°C (125°F) for 45 to 60 minutes until it forms a crumbly, dark green sheet. You are concentrating the chlorophyll and removing the watery grassiness that would make the final pesto thin and muddy.

3. 3

   3. GRIND THE DEHYDRATED ELEMENTS: Break the dehydrated sulguni into rough pieces and blitz in a small food processor or spice grinder until it resembles coarse, sandy crumbs — about 20 seconds. Do the same with the dehydrated nettle sheet, pulsing until you have a dark green powder with some chunky bits. Set both aside separately.

4. 4

   4. BUILD THE WALNUT BASE: In a food processor, combine the toasted walnuts, regular garlic cloves, fenugreek, marigold petals, ground coriander, and chilli flakes. Pulse 8 to 10 times until you have a coarse, crumbly paste — you want texture, not walnut butter. The Georgian bazhe tradition demands you respect the walnut's structure.

5. 5

   5. ADD THE AROMATICS: Add the wild garlic leaves to the walnut paste and pulse another 5 times. The wild garlic should be visibly shredded but not completely obliterated. Add the apple cider vinegar and walnut oil, then pulse 3 more times to combine. The mixture will look rough and slightly oily — this is correct.

6. 6

   6. FOLD IN THE DEHYDRATED ELEMENTS: Transfer the walnut-wild garlic mixture to a bowl. Add the dehydrated nettle powder and three-quarters of the dehydrated sulguni crumbs. Fold together with a spatula rather than blending — you want layers of texture. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time until the sauce just comes together into a thick, spreadable consistency. It should hold a peak when you pull the spatula away.

7. 7

   7. SEASON AND REST: Taste and season with flaky sea salt. The cheese will already bring significant salt, so go carefully. Drizzle the surface with a little extra walnut oil and scatter the reserved sulguni crumbs on top. Allow the pesto to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving — this lets the dehydrated nettle powder rehydrate slightly and the flavours knit together. The colour will deepen from bright green to a complex forest green.

8. 8

   8. SERVE: Use as a sauce over roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, or khinkali dumplings. It keeps refrigerated under a thin layer of walnut oil for up to 5 days. The flavour intensifies significantly on day two.

Variations

• ◆Replace half the walnuts with sunflower seeds and add 1 tsp ground dried pomegranate seeds (narsharab powder) for a more classic bazhe structure with a fruity acid backbone.
• ◆Skip the sulguni and use 60g dehydrated cashews blended with 1 tsp white miso and 1 tsp nutritional yeast to mimic the lactic funk. The umami profile actually gets weirder and more interesting.
• ◆Stir in 1 tablespoon of red adjika paste after folding in the dehydrated elements for a fiery, brick-red swirled version that leans into Georgia's spice-forward western regional cooking.