{"id":8551,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8551"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:51:15","slug":"kada","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/kada\/","title":{"rendered":"Kada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kada (\u10e5\u10d0\u10d3\u10d0), in its sweet form, is a baked confection popular in Georgia in which a filling of wheat flour, fat and sugar is wrapped in dough. When it is cut, a pale, flour-based filling can be seen inside the crust. Although flour and butter are used throughout, the outside becomes a baked crust and the inside a crumbly filling.<\/p>\n

In Meskheti in the southwest, some versions wrap a filling of flour and clarified butter without any sugar. In the eastern highlands it serves as a festival offering, and the same name, kada, has been used both for sweet sliced pastries and for breads baked for celebrations.<\/p>\n

Toasted-flour filling and mixed-flour filling<\/h2>\n

In food historian Darra Goldstein\u2019s The Georgian Feast, the kada is made by heating the flour until it turns deep pink and then adding butter and sugar. Toasting the flour first gives the filling a toasty flavor. One shape involves coiling a long roll of dough further into a spiral, and the author presents a method of forming it into a ring with an open center to preserve the flaky texture of the crust.<\/p>\n

Georgian food writer Irma Iantbelidze\u2019s rolled kada follows a different procedure. Wheat flour, sugar and softened butter are mixed into a filling resembling damp sand, which is then wrapped in the dough. The filling is not toasted in a pan but cooked in the oven together with the crust. Even with the same three ingredients, whether the flour is toasted in advance or mixed in raw changes the point at which the aroma is created.<\/p>\n

The flour filling differs both from a smooth cream and from a jam of cooked-down fruit. Flour and sugar containing fat hold together and crumble finely where they are cut. Even in versions without nuts, the toasted wheat flour supports the toasty flavor.<\/p>\n

The cross-section of rolled and sliced kada<\/h2>\n

In Iantbelidze\u2019s recipe (ingredient proportions and method), matsoni or yogurt, eggs and baking soda are added to wheat flour combined with butter. Matsoni is a fermented milk of the Caucasus. The dough is rested, rolled out into a rectangle, spread with the flour filling and rolled up from one end.<\/p>\n

The roll is flattened slightly, brushed with egg yolk, cut into small pieces with a wavy blade or similar tool, and baked. This leaves alternating bands of dough and filling in the cross-section of each piece. It also differs from the large ring-shaped kada in that it is cut before baking. Apart from pastry in which fat is folded in repeatedly to create fine layers, a layered cross-section can also be produced by rolling up dough spread with filling.<\/p>\n

Meskheti\u2019s sugar-free flour filling and handling of the dough<\/h2>\n

In Meskheti in the southwest, there is kada made with lard. The Georgian National Tourism Administration presents the region\u2019s kada as a filled dough baked for New Year rituals and still made today. In Akhaltsikhe, a city in the same region, it is also enjoyed as a sweet, rich, layered baked confection.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an interview with Nazi, a resident of Khizabavra village in Aspindza Municipality, records a way of making a flour filling without sugar. Erbo (\u10d4\u10e0\u10d1\u10dd), a clarified butter, is heated, flour is added and worked in, and the flavor is adjusted with a little salt. The filling is not pressed into a lump but kept loose and crumbly.<\/p>\n

This interview describes a method in which the dough containing the flour filling is closed like khachapuri and baked directly on bricks using the heat of the remaining embers. Ways of handling the dough include spreading it with lard and folding it into layers, and winding it repeatedly around the hand, then taking it off and spreading it out with the fingers. In the latter, a mixture of matsoni and eggs is brushed on the surface before baking. Even under the same name, kada, the taste that lingers in the mouth differs between the sweet rolled pastry with added sugar and this method, which brings out the flavor of the flour and fat.<\/p>\n

\n\"Homemade\n
An example of homemade clarified butter that has set. For Meskhetian kada, a method is recorded of making the flour filling with fat like this, from which the water and milk solids have been removed. Photo: Nobby Nobody \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Full-size image used. No content modifications or cropping made this time.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A bread in the dictionary, and an offering in the highlands<\/h2>\n

In his explanation of nazuki, the 17th\u201318th-century lexicographer Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani lists a variety of breads made with eggs, milk, clarified butter and other ingredients, and counts kada among them. The name kada has not referred only to the small, sweet sliced pastries of today.<\/p>\n

In the beliefs handed down in Pshavi and Khevsureti in the east, kada also serves as an offering. At the festival of Iakhsari (\u10d8\u10d0\u10ee\u10e1\u10d0\u10e0\u10d8) held in the Pshavi village of Shuapkho, kada and candles are the traditional gifts. Iakhsari is a deity long believed in these highlands to protect the people of the community, and people gather at the festival bringing offerings. At this festival, kada is a food that people bake, bring with them and offer to the deity.<\/p>\n

In the highlands there is also kada filled with meat, cheese and green onions that grow in the mountains. The festive formulation presented by the Georgian National Tourism Administration wraps finely chopped meat, crumbled cheese and parboiled, well-drained onions in a yeast-leavened dough. It is a savory baked item brushed with butter when it comes out of the oven. Despite sharing the name, its contents differ greatly from those of kada wrapped around a sweet flour filling.<\/p>\n

A name that overlaps with gata<\/h2>\n

Armenia, Georgia\u2019s neighbor in the South Caucasus, has gata, which wraps a filling of flour, butter and sugar. Georgian food writer Medea Chubinidze also calls her own gata recipe \u201cArmenian-style kada.\u201d Gata and kada share the rolled-and-sliced shape and the flour filling, and at the table there are also instances where the two names overlap in use.<\/p>\n

In Goris in southern Armenia, a type of gata made into a thick round and filled with a sweet walnut filling is also popular. The baked confections of these neighboring lands range from ones similar to kada, with a flour filling and a rolled cross-section, to ones with nuts at their center.<\/p>\n

Sweet kada is also one of the confections that can be bought at street stalls in present-day Tbilisi. Some are baked as rings and then sliced, some are cut small and then baked, and some wrap a flour filling in dough spread with fat. This confection, which uses the wheat flour of the crust for the filling as well, takes many forms within each household\u2019s procedures and each region\u2019s occasions for eating it.<\/p>\n

\n\"Armenian\n
Sliced Armenian gata (2015, location unknown). An example of a confection from a neighboring country whose name and shape overlap with those of kada. Photo: Armineaghayan \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Obtained the reduced-size version from Commons. No additional processing this time.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n
\n\"Walnuts\n
An example of walnuts in the shell and cracked open. In Goris, Armenia, there is gata filled with a sweet walnut filling. Photo: Ivar Leidus \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Used the hosted version of an image that the photographer focus-stacked from 18 shots. No content modifications or cropping made this time.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Goris<\/strong>: A town in southern Armenia. Thick gata with walnut filling is popular there.<\/p>

Kada (\u10e5\u10d0\u10d3\u10d0)<\/strong>: The name of a Georgian filled baked item. In addition to sweet versions using flour, fat and sugar, the name is also used for regional breads and offerings.<\/p>

Darra Goldstein<\/strong>: Author of The Georgian Feast. She presents kada with a filling of toasted flour.<\/p>

Irma Iantbelidze<\/strong>: A Georgian food writer who presents kada made by rolling up a raw-flour filling in dough and slicing it.<\/p>

Recipe<\/strong>: The complete set of ingredient proportions and method.<\/p>

Matsoni<\/strong>: A fermented milk of the Caucasus.<\/p>

Erbo (\u10d4\u10e0\u10d1\u10dd)<\/strong>: Clarified butter, made by extracting the fat from milk.<\/p>

Nazuki<\/strong>: The name of a sweet bread made with milk, fat and other ingredients.<\/p>

Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani<\/strong>: A 17th\u201318th-century Georgian lexicographer.<\/p>

Iakhsari (\u10d8\u10d0\u10ee\u10e1\u10d0\u10e0\u10d8)<\/strong>: A deity whose worship has been handed down in Pshavi, Khevsureti and elsewhere.<\/p>

Gata<\/strong>: An Armenian baked confection. Some versions use a filling of flour, butter and sugar.<\/p>

Medea Chubinidze<\/strong>: A Georgian food writer who presents gata under the name \u201cArmenian-style kada.\u201d<\/p>

Nazi<\/strong>: A resident of Khizabavra village who described how to make Meskhetian kada and other dishes for an interview article.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. References (added in this update)<\/li>
  2. \n

    Armenia Travel \u201cDiscover the top things to do in Goris\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Thick, round gata and sweet walnut filling in Goris. Not a formulation common to all gata.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Georgian National Tourism Administration \u201cKhortsshebuiani Kada Pastry\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Georgian National Tourism Administration: ingredients and method for festive highland kada; meat, cheese and wild mountain onions.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Irma Iantbelidze \u201cRolled Kada\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients and Directions 1\u20134, read directly in earlier research. An example of a filling of raw flour, sugar and butter, a dough using fermented milk, and rolling and cutting.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Darra Goldstein, The Georgian Feast, \u201cButter Pastry,\u201d publicly available introduction on ckbk<\/a> \u2014 Publicly available introduction, read directly in earlier research. Explanation of the toasted-flour filling and the spiral and ring shapes. The paid Method section was not read.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Georgia Travel \u201cStreet Food & Georgia\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Paragraph listing the sweets found on Tbilisi streets, read directly in earlier research. Not used as evidence of origin.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Medea Chubinidze \u201cArmenian Gata\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Public text and steps, read directly in earlier research. An individual example in which the writer calls gata \u201cArmenian-style kada.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Georgia Travel \u201cMeskhetian Cuisine\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Georgian-language sections on kada, nazuki and pasari, read directly in earlier research. Lard, New Year rituals and present-day making.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Georgian Travel Guide \u201cMeskhetian Cuisine\u201d (2021)<\/a> \u2014 Georgian-language introduction and kada section, read directly in earlier research. The filling of flour, clarified butter and salt, and multiple ways of handling the dough, from the interview with Nazi of Khizabavra village. One village\u2019s example.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Ilia State University Ethnographic Dictionary \u201c\u10dc\u10d0\u10d6\u10e3\u10e5\u10d8\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Full entry and the Orbeliani quotation, read directly in earlier research. Used only to the extent that it lists kada as an example of bread in connection with nazuki. The original kada entry in the old dictionary was not read.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  11. \n

    Georgian Encyclopedia \u201c\u10d8\u10d0\u10ee\u10e1\u10d0\u10e0\u10d8\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Full Georgian-language entry and bibliography, read directly in earlier research. The deity of Pshavi and elsewhere, the Shuapkho festival, and offerings of kada and candles. The original ethnographic works in the bibliography were not read.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  12. \n

    Georgia Travel \u201cAkhaltsikhe\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Georgian-language local cuisine section, read directly in earlier research. A regional example of sweet, rich, layered kada.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Kada (\u10e5\u10d0\u10d3\u10d0), in its sweet form, is a baked confection popular in Georgia in which a filling of wheat flour, fat and sugar is wrapped in dough. In cross-section, a pale flour filling sits inside the crust. Although flour and butter are used throughout, the outside becomes a baked crust and the inside a crumbly filling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7684,"menu_order":322,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Kada","subtitle":"Wheat flour for both the crust and the sweet filling","topics":"A filling of wheat flour, fat and sugar\uff0fA toasty baked confection wrapped in dough\uff0fDifferences in sweetness across Georgia","country":"Georgia","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["grain"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8551","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t