Ajika

Ajika or adjika is a Georgian-Abkhazian hot, spicy, but subtly flavored dip, often used to flavor food. In 2018, the technology of ajika was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia list.

The name derives from the Abkhaz word аџьыка "salt". The Abkhazian variant of ajika is based on a boiled preparation of hot red peppers, garlic, herbs, and spices such as coriander, dill, blue fenugreek (only found in mountain regions such as the Alps or the Caucasus), salt, and walnut. A dry form of ajika exists that is sometimes called svanuri marili in Georgian or lushnu jim in Svan (სვანური მარილი "Svanetian salt"); this looks like small red clumps mixed with a looser version of the spice mixture. Home-made ajika is available from many market stalls in the Caucasus and in the Krasnodar Krai of Russia. Tomatoes are not an ingredient of traditional ajika, though different versions of ajika, sometimes having tomatoes or tomato paste as an ingredient, are produced on a commercial scale and sold in supermarkets in Russia and Ukraine.

Common varieties of ajika resemble Italian red pesto in appearance and consistency. Though it is usually red, green ajika is also made with unripe peppers.