Svan salt is a cooking ingredient that is used in Georgian cuisine. The basis of the mixture is table salt, and other components are mixed with it in certain proportions. You can use this salt to add a spicy taste to meat, fish and first courses, as well as sauces and dressings.
Traditional Svan salt recipe
Svan salt contains eight ingredients. To obtain a traditional taste, they must be mixed in certain proportions. For 6, 5 tablespoons of ordinary coarse table salt, you will need 100 g of garlic, one tablespoon of dry blue fenugreek, the same amount of dried dill, cilantro, red pepper, yellow flower and half a tablespoon of cumin. All ingredients are thoroughly ground and mixed to create a versatile seasoning.
Please note that the yellow flower used to make Svan salt is the dried petals of Imeretian saffron. In some sources, these plants are called marigolds. Blue fenugreek is a Georgian herb that is a powder with a tart aroma. In Georgia it is called "utskho suneli".
The process of making Svan salt has its own secrets. Garlic must not only be chopped, but thoroughly kneaded so that the juice is released from it. It is better to do this with a mortar. Stir the ingredients with a spoon only at the initial stage of cooking. To obtain the desired consistency, it is better to knead all the ingredients with your hands.
Svan salt should not resemble powder. The product has the consistency of wet seasoning. You can store the ingredient in jars or containers that can be tightly closed with a lid.
Who came up with the recipe for Svan salt
Svan salt got its name from the region that became its "homeland" - Svaneti. This place is a small village located in a mountainous area. It is quite difficult to get to it, and the main difficulty is experienced by residents during the delivery of food. Salt has occupied a special place in the diet of Georgian residents for a long time. In order to save a valuable product, the local population came up with a recipe, thanks to which it was possible to increase the volume of salt and provide itself with supplies for a long time.
First, dried spices were added to the table salt. The desired increase in volume was achieved, but there was not enough spice, beloved in Georgia. So the mixture was supplemented with garlic. The people of Svaneti liked the seasoning so much that its recipe has not changed for centuries.
There are several recipes for making Svan salt. Due to the inability to purchase some spices in stores, coriander and ground chili are often used as additional ingredients. The most difficult to obtain component is considered to be the Georgian seasoning utskho suneli. However, dried coriander does a good job of replacing it.
