It’s early evening at Georgian House restaurant famed for its traditional food in Old Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. The place is jam-packed, buzzing with cheers erupting every now and then as a football match blares on the television. Amid all this noise and fervour, a bowl of chakhokhbili arrives at your table.
Fiery red, the steaming-hot stew, is laden with generous chunks of chicken, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, and a heady rush of spices that hits before the first bite. You stop mid-bite, spoon suspended, struck by the realisation that perhaps this time, you’re meeting a Georgia you haven’t known before. It’s bold. It’s spiced, and different from the ‘bread-and-cheese’ image Georgia so often carries.
Beneath that spice punch sits khmeli suneli—a powerful spice mix that forms the backbone of Georgian cooking. A mere teaspoon of this mixture is enough to lend the characteristic Georgian flavour to any dish.
“Khmeli means dried, so khmeli suneli literally translates to ‘dried spices’,” explains Keti Maglakelidze, a Georgian local who runs a café and spice import company. “The blend begins with blue fenugreek, marigold petals or Imeretian saffron, summer savoury, and coriander, and from there becomes deeply personal. Some add dried parsley or dill, others rehani (purple basil), mint, cayenne, black pepper, or even powdered bay leaf.”
In Georgian cooking, suneli is a broad term—it refers to spices and aromatic seasonings in general, whether used on their own or blended. Just like garam masala or the Middle Eastern za’atar, there’s no fixed formula. “There isn’t a rigid recipe, but a culinary framework shaped by regional terroir, family tradition, and the hand of the cook,” says Keti. In most Georgian homes, the spice mix lives in large jars, with each family or spice merchant guarding its own inherited secret version.
The spice mix is most pronounced in rich, meat-based stews, but it’s just as present in humble roasted vegetables, where it adds depth and warmth. Georgian recipes favour meat layered with herbs and spices, cooked slowly until everything comes together.
Georgia sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and the use of suneli reflects centuries of movement by traders, herders, and empires passing through. For Silk Road traders, combining spices made transport easier and trading simpler. And for everyday households, it made cooking more accessible—after all, the humble household couldn’t afford a long list of individual spices. Beyond khmeli suneli, the country is also home to other distinctive spice blends, like Svaneti salt, a dry mix native to the Svaneti region.
Most visitors come to Georgia chasing the classics—khachapuri, the boat-shaped cheese bread; khinkali, the oversized dumplings; and its ancient, class-apart wines. But the country’s culinary story truly unfolds in its fiery, spice-forward dishes.