View Full Version : cheese on the trail
THEmapMAKER
08-29-2007, 13:59
Besides cheesewiz, is it possibble to take any other cheese on the trail and not have it spoil.
Jack Tarlin
08-29-2007, 14:10
Absolutely. Stick to "harder" cheeses like block cheddar, colby, etc. Stuff like mozzarella or muenster will go gooey on you in warm weather. I always carry some cheese out of town; it's great for snacks/lunch or can be cubed/diced and added to any of your dinners.
Just say NO! to Cheesewhiz.
It ain't cheese.
Johnny Swank
08-29-2007, 14:13
I had no problem carrying chedder and whatnot. Gets a little juicy, but whatever. Parmesan in the can works when it's broiling outside as well.
Just go sobo - you're just as likely to chip a tooth on the frozen cheese during the last month!
And Cheesewhiz rocks. The stuff is more addictive than crack.
saimyoji
08-29-2007, 14:16
Blessed are the cheesemakers! :)
A chunk of cheddar and a a chunk of Parmesan are always in my food bag.
CoyoteWhips
08-29-2007, 15:26
I loves me some Romano shaked on my pasta with olive oil.
Add some soaked sundried tomatoes and that's a dish.
And Cheesewhiz rocks. The stuff is more addictive than crack.Exactly. Thus... Just Say No! :D
I would try and best remain a cheese snob, considering the rich history of cheese and wayfarers since ancient times. Chunk of fine cheese, stick or loaf of hard bread, perhaps a bottle of vintage wine. Now excuse me. I must be on my way to the next unworthy little trail town.
"Uhh. JAK. You dropped your tube of Squeeze Cheese."
Footslogger
08-29-2007, 15:43
Blessed are the cheesemakers! :)
=============================
...for they shall inherit impacted colons.
Just kiddin. Couldn't pass that one up !!
'Slogger
chiefdaddy
08-29-2007, 15:51
ok so I live in Atlanta and am from GA..... I have to bring Kraft singles american for my two packs of cheese grits, besides the cheese the grits are almost an ancient indian trail food :D and Mom always had a bowl waiting on the table for me in the mornings.
ALWAYS HAVE SHARP CHEDDAR BLOCK!!! Most times I eat all the cheese in 3 days tops and have never had a problem.
aaroniguana
08-29-2007, 16:02
Take a block of your favorite cheese, grate or shred finely, dehydrate, run through the blender until powder and vac pac. Can be reconstituted for cooking with a little water, a little olive oil, or just add water to the powder and spread on crackers, bagels, whatever. Sharp white cheddar like Helluva Good or Cabot are great this way.
Very simple. The harder the cheese, the longer it can go without refrigeration.
My humour gets pretty cheesy sometimes.
Not sure how it would hold up on the trail.
LIhikers
08-29-2007, 16:47
Individually wrapped string cheese seems to last a good long while. I guess the fact that each piece is wrapped and the germs and bacteria can't get to them helps a lot.
The Old Fhart
08-29-2007, 16:49
I just hate it when someone cuts the cheese (http://books.google.com/books?id=G8t8doQHi-MC&dq=&pg=PP1&ots=EliUsdVA59&sig=htlZNNcEsxmAC7lKnPDZIh__tz0&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3Dcut%2Bthe%2Bcheese%26sourceid%3Dnavcl ient-ff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS208US209&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPP1,M1) on the trail;). Seriously, a good extra sharp cheddar is good but I also carry grated Italian blend for my cous-cous.
When I was a kid my mom would make a recipe that she called "Hot Dog Dish". She would make it about once a week, and the thought of it still makes me gag.
Take some rubbery cheesey stuff like velveeta, put into a pot with milk, cut-up hotdogs, and chunks of onion and cubed potatoes. Boil the whole mess until the potatoes and onions are soft. If it looks like bright orange puke then its just right. Serve in a bowl with a garnish of Wonder Bread.
Why was it that my mom only made enough for us kids and my dad always had to have something else?
Jack Tarlin
08-29-2007, 18:39
Steve:
Your Mom's "Hot Dog Dish" sounds very similar to something I make on the Trail now and again.
My dish is also nasty, rubbery, vomitous, and pretty much looks like something that just fell out of a goat.
It is very popular with hikers.
Jester2000
08-29-2007, 20:25
Very simple. The harder the cheese, the longer it can go without refrigeration.
See, this is excellent advice, and I see where he's going with it, so I'll continue the thought. You're going to want to bring a lot of cheese with you. I mean A LOT. Studies have shown that while lack of sunlight will eventually drive you insane, lack of cheese will make you incredibly unhappy, to the point that you will drive everyone else insane.
But you've gotta get on a schedule. Say you're going out for a week. You want seven days worth of cheese, but not the SAME cheese. You want at least seven different kinds of cheese, and you want to eat them in ascending order of hardness.
So maybe you bring a huge thing of crumbly feta with you for a salad topping on day 1, with maybe some goat cheese for lunch. Then you move on to your mozzarella ball on day two. A really big mozzarella ball, and you eat the whole thing by itself, like you're eating a snowball.
You get the point, so I won't belabor it. You end up on the last couple of days with some sharp Vermont cheddar and then a block of parm. I do recommend also carrying a can of grated parm to put on top of every other meal you eat.
The cheese will last, as long as you eat it in the right order! You'll hike like you have wings! You'll stay toasty warm at night! You won't poop the whole time you're out there!
Good luck, and enjoy the cheese!
Smoked Gouda, MM-MM good!
CoyoteWhips
08-29-2007, 20:41
The cheese will last, as long as you eat it in the right order! You'll hike like you have wings! You'll stay toasty warm at night! You won't poop the whole time you're out there!
Combine cheese and a high fiber diet. It's kind of like driving with the emergency brake on -- you know, in case there's an emergency.
derekthered
08-29-2007, 20:43
During my thru this year I bought cheese, mostly sharp cheddar, at almost every town re-supply. Even cream cheese, which I used on bagels most mornings; it keeps for about 4 days before getting...uh... liquidy.
hopefulhiker
08-29-2007, 20:43
Parmasagn hard block cheese is good for flavoring food.
Jester2000
08-29-2007, 21:23
Combine cheese and a high fiber diet.
Combine cheese with everything. Anything. I can't stress it enough. CHEESE.
And don't just limit yourself to "flavoring food" with it. Flavor everything with it. Flavor your joys and sorrows with it. Flavor your Flav with it. Flavor your life with it!
Appalachian Tater
08-29-2007, 22:15
There are also those little babybell cheeses that are individually wrapped that aren't too bad.
One thing about cheese..it makes everything taste better! Stick to chedders rather than softer stuff.
Cheese and chocolate are the two majore food groups in my book. I put ice cream right up there too but don't see how one can bring ice cream out on the trail :sun
David
Jan LiteShoe
08-29-2007, 22:25
Combine cheese with everything. Anything. I can't stress it enough. CHEESE.
And don't just limit yourself to "flavoring food" with it. Flavor everything with it. Flavor your joys and sorrows with it. Flavor your Flav with it. Flavor your life with it!
This is wisdom.
In certain circles, cheesiness is next to godliness.
:)
Oh, by the way:
http://www.richmiller.info/archives/00000028.html
"Why did the Recording Industry Association of America's web site recently post a front-page news release touting "the joys of cheese and interspecies romantic relationships," among other things?"
budforester
08-29-2007, 23:20
During my thru this year I bought cheese, mostly sharp cheddar, at almost every town re-supply. Even cream cheese, which I used on bagels most mornings; it keeps for about 4 days before getting...uh... liquidy.
FYI, gang, cream cheese is risky.
aaroniguana
08-30-2007, 00:00
They make cream cheese in a pressurized can no, you know. No refrigeration needed.
Tipi Walter
08-30-2007, 00:21
Yeah, cheese should be humped at all times, and when the cheese is gone the trip is over. I start out with 3 pounds of cheese for a trip and when it is finished, usually around 14-15 days, the backpacking trip is over. I've hauled all types in all seasons, including blocks of foil-wrapped cream cheese(mixes great with oatmeal and pasta or as a desert with honey), and the usual cheddar and meunster and gouda et.al. My current favorite is raw goat's milk cheese, tastes like white chocolate and is a meal in itself with a bag of corn chips.
In the summer I double bag the stuff in ziplocs and put the whole supply in another bread type bag as the stuff gets oily but never rank. In the winter it'll all freeze solid and it cuts weird but the taste is still just right.
Pokey2006
08-30-2007, 00:54
No, cream cheese works just fine, though keeping it in a ziplock might be smart, as it gets messy sometimes. In really, really hot weather, you might want to use it up first, before the cheddar and parm, but cream cheese will definitely keep for at least a couple of days, even in the heat. And it's easier to work with -- no need to chop or grate, just toss a couple spoonfuls into your dinner, or smear a big glob onto your tortilla. Yum!
modiyooch
08-30-2007, 08:36
I always carry cheese. It used to be just colby, but I have found the hard cheeses last until resupply. I have learned to buy it in cube bites so I don't have to carry a knife. cheese sandwiches are quick energy for me.
The Old Fhart
08-30-2007, 09:36
I'm also quite addicted to Jarlsberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarlsberg_cheese) cheese.
Jester2000
08-31-2007, 19:44
In really, really hot weather, you might want to use it up first, before the cheddar and parm . . .
Yeah! Multi-cheese! Pokey's got the order figured right. . .
Yeah, cheese should be humped at all times, and when the cheese is gone the trip is over. . .
. . .but the trip to get more cheese has just begun.
Take a block of your favorite cheese, grate or shred finely, dehydrate, run through the blender until powder and vac pac. Can be reconstituted for cooking with a little water, a little olive oil, or just add water to the powder and spread on crackers, bagels, whatever. Sharp white cheddar like Helluva Good or Cabot are great this way.
How long will that last for? How does it taste?
Mmmmm, cheese!! I always carry cheese on the trail!
Dont even remember caring about a knife or not...just took big ole bites outta the block!! :)
i'm a fan of string cheese, but the last drop box i got had the string cheese in there a little toooooo long, it was scary, i thought the little packs were going to explode, soooo scary, i carefully put them in a covered trash can.
also another thing but a bit of trash--- the cheese and cracker kits, the plastic is pretty good about keeping the crackers from breaking up too much.
::: Going to get some cheese. :::
saimyoji
09-09-2007, 16:18
also another thing but a bit of trash--- the cheese and cracker kits, the plastic is pretty good about keeping the crackers from breaking up too much.
I don't like the cheese in those at all. Too artificial. Natural cheese for me please.
Two Speed
09-09-2007, 20:17
I'm gonna second Rainman. Smoked Gouda! Travels well and just keeps tasting better and better.
Used to eat that smoked cheddar cheese-type stuff Kroger and Publix sells. I'm not sure, but I think the only smoking involved is the Marlboro's and Camel's the employees smoke on the production line. :eek:
Cheese! We have cheddar cheese with our eggs the first morning on the trail. We cook up some more cheddar cheese with our tortillas, foil chicken and spices for dinner. We have even more cheese as a snack with some crackers and wash that down with some fine spirits. And we have a rice, monterey jack cheese, chicken combo with onions and spices. Pass the cheese please!
Welveeta. They don'e even refigerate it at the store. It is heavy, so plan to share. I will carry the cheese, you carry the wine. It is so processed, I don't want to even know what is in it. It melts up great with dried refried beans and flour tortillas.
Another tip for cheese, cut it up before you leave home and melt some parafin and dip your chees in it. It will keep.
shelterbuilder
09-09-2007, 21:00
You folks are making me HUNGRY! It ain't fair.:(
You folks are making me HUNGRY! It ain't fair.:(
Then quit whinning and have some cheese. :D
orangebug
09-09-2007, 21:42
Who cut the cheese?
mweinstone
09-10-2007, 07:17
if you bring cheese on the trail, you will die.
Jester2000
09-10-2007, 18:53
if you bring cheese on the trail, you will die.
Well, yeah. But if you don't bring cheese on the trail, you're still going to die. So why not make the time you have left as enjoyable as possible? How? I'll give you a hint -- it starts with a "C" and rhymes with "please."
MrSparex
09-10-2007, 21:23
This is not a joke....
I just fed my yellow lab some cheap dry dog food mixed with milk, cooked hamburger, a hamburger bun and yes, topped off with a fine mix of 4 types of cheese. Jake liked it! (yeah I like my dog)
Parmesan cheese keeps pretty well too, and is nice on noodles. :)