Cheese on the trail

[Bulldawg]

I am going to be beginning some 2 to 3 night hikes this spring. I love cheese and it a huge energy boost for me. I was wondering what sort of cheese I could take along with me that won't ruin and turn into oil on the trail in my pack? I like something along the taste of cheddar, not too sharp, not too moldy smelling. I appreciate all responses in advance.

[Lone Wolf]

can't help you. i don't eat cheese of ANY kind. :)

[AT-HITMAN2005]

i always used sharp if i could find it. its just my preference. but i've also heard that the sharper it is the less oily. but i carried cheese pretty much my entire hike and had no problems with it going bad, even in the heat of summer. it got softer sometimes but was never unmanageable. this includes mild cheddar also. sometimes thats all you can find.

[rickb]

can't help you. i don't eat cheese of ANY kind.

Not even on pizza? Or in a cannoli?

[doggiebag]

can't help you. i don't eat cheese of ANY kind. :)
What about Fermunda?

[Bulldawg]

Not even on pizza? Or in a cannoli?


MMmmmmm cannoli, now that's Trail Magic!!

[Lone Wolf]

Not even on pizza? Or in a cannoli?

i don't eat pizza or cannolis or mac & cheese, etc., etc., etc.

[amigo]

Try Manchega, a Spanish cheese. Very hard and very expensive, but darn tasty.

Actually, in the spring, any reasonably hard cheese should keep for a long time, including cheddar. If it turns warm, remember that you can wrap your cheese bag in clothing to insulate it.

[Patrickjd9]

i always used sharp if i could find it. its just my preference. but i've also heard that the sharper it is the less oily.
True.

Avoided doing it in the heat, but have done fine carrying extra sharp cheese on 2-3 day weekends in moderate weather.

[rafe]

Good old pepperjack.

[Pedaling Fool]

I take all type of cheddar cheeses, as well as others. They say to refrigerate, but I never had a problem, even in the hottest part of summer. However, it does get really soft and greasy, depending on what type you get, but it doesn't affect the taste and I've never gotten sick, yet.

This time of year it's absolutley not an issue, regardless of what kind of cheese you bring.

[bigboots]

i don't eat pizza or cannolis or mac & cheese, etc., etc., etc.

so then what do you eat???:)

[bigcranky]

Any good sharp packaged cheddar works fine. The really aged sharp stuff can get oily, but it's still edible. I also like Swiss and Gruyere type cheeses on the trail. The little mini baby bells are great, too.

Then there's the large package of individually-wrapped American cheese slices that always jumps into my food bag all by itself. Quite useful in a tortilla with just about any filling -- tuna, refritos, eggs, whatever. Not very high end, but whaddaya expect from hiker trash anyway? Stuff lasts forever, too, just like the tortillas.

[Bulldawg]

Any good sharp packaged cheddar works fine. The really aged sharp stuff can get oily, but it's still edible. I also like Swiss and Gruyere type cheeses on the trail. The little mini baby bells are great, too.

Then there's the large package of individually-wrapped American cheese slices that always jumps into my food bag all by itself. Quite useful in a tortilla with just about any filling -- tuna, refritos, eggs, whatever. Not very high end, but whaddaya expect from hiker trash anyway? Stuff lasts forever, too, just like the tortillas.

Yeah, I am OK with the Swiss and Gruyere type chesses, prefer a lil Riesling or Pinot Grigio with it, but I could handle it without it. How does those cheese stand heat.

I am just not crazy about getting my hands all greasy out there on the trail if I can avoid it.

[sarbar]

As noted individual packaged cheese works best. Why? One your grubby mitts are not all over it. Cheese gets nasty if you handle it too much!
You can always buy your favorite cheeses and take them home, cut them into 1 ounce blocks and dip into parafin. This gives you one person servings and they are nicely sealed up. You can carry cheese in most temps for days on end. Keep it buried in your pack and enjoy!
Yes, it will get soft and oily but that is fine.

[Bob S]

I buy those beef stick cheese combination packages you see at gas stations. They don’t need refrigeration (after all they sit on the counter at the station) and packaged in plastic you don’t have to worry about oil in your pack. And they taste good.

[River Runner]

String cheese works really well. Except the Disney brand they sell in some stores around here - it gets watery.

I like the little individually wrapped snack size pieces of monterey jack. It does get melty and greasy, but that just makes it taste better - kind like it's been semi-melted in an oven or something.

[CoyoteWhips]

The snack cheeses with individual servings sealed in paraffin seem darned handy. The wax gives your camp fire a little boost, too.

[Wanderingson]

What about Fermunda?


Your a freaking riot man. You beat me to the punch on that one.

[dessertrat]

I use those slim jim combo packs too. You can either cut them up and add them to a pasta dish, or eat them straight. Cheese and pepperoni, who could want anything more?

[DavidNH]

I view cheese as one of life's necessities.. just after chocolate.


ya GOTTA have cheese when hiking the trail. I think Cedder is particularly good because it holds up very well. For several days even in the hottest weather. personally I pr efer the Vermont Chedder but other states do ok as well..like NY.

with out cheese and chocolate..life just isn't the same. And on a hike well it's essential.

davidnh

[Lone Wolf]

i don't eat cheese or chocolate while hiking

[Lyle]

Any kind of hard cheese will keep. If it gets oily, just wipe it off with some TP or bandanna. It will get soft in hot weather. To slow the oily problem, keep it wrapped well and keep it toward the center of your pack, better insulated there from the hot sun. In moderate weather, you will rarely have oily cheese.

Enjoy!

[Blissful]

A good sharp cheddar holds well.

[Blissful]

i don't eat cheese or chocolate while hiking

I don't either. I stop for a nice break then eat both to my heart's content.

:)

[Bob S]

I view cheese as one of life's necessities.. just after chocolate.


ya GOTTA have cheese when hiking the trail. I think Cedder is particularly good because it holds up very well. For several days even in the hottest weather. personally I pr efer the Vermont Chedder but other states do ok as well..like NY.

with out cheese and chocolate..life just isn't the same. And on a hike well it's essential.

davidnh




What the world need is chocolate flavored cheese….


Or cheese flavored chocolate…

[Lyle]

What the world need is chocolate flavored cheese….


Or cheese flavored chocolate…

Michigan State University Dairy Store has offered this for years:

http://dairystore.msu.edu/dnav/109/page.htm :)

[Flush2wice]

Try some Venezuelan Beaver Cheese.

[Montego]

I know that Gouda (baby gouda) works well.

[bigcranky]

Or cheese flavored chocolate… [/SIZE][/FONT]


A local dairy offers chocolate goat cheese truffles. Mmmmmm. (Goat Lady Dairy at the Greensboro Farmer's Market, for those in the area. They offer a variety of great cheeses.)

[Bob S]

I’ve never seen chocolate cheese, but I’m going to go on a quest to completly explore this issue.

[tlw08]

I’ve never seen chocolate cheese, but I’m going to go on a quest to completly explore this issue.

It's pretty popular here in Wisconsin. I kid you not :eek:

[rat44]

can't help you. i don't eat cheese of ANY kind. :)

then why did you bother posting?

[JF2CBR]

I take sharp cheddar cheese and maybe some ritz crackers, on one or two nighters I may take a small peice of summer sausage as well. Makes great camp munchies!

[Jim Adams]

swiss or a good sharp Cabot...mmmmmmm

geek

[Jester2000]

Some of my thoughts on cheese, compiled from previous threads:


CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!

I loves me some cheese. Largest block you can carry out of town without causing stress fractures, say I.

Bigger lasts longer! Harder is better!
Cheese does not go bad!
Melty/Oily? Recombines at night!
Moldy oldy? Cut that part off and keep chomping!
One Pound blocks! Eaten like candy bars!

Bonus feature: no poopin' 'til the next time you hit town. . .

Cheese, baby! Sounds gouda to me!


I have yet to meet a cheese I haven't liked immediately, struck up a long, meaningful conversation with, and developed a deep, abiding relationship with.

Cow, goat, sheep, cat, out of a can, on a nacho, with my breakfast, between my toes, on pasta, on stuffing, on Donner, on Blitzen!

With cheese!
Con queso!
Avec frommage!
Ag tigh cais!


The only reason to cut cheese with a knife is if you're sharing it with someone, which is what I was thinking of in my post regarding what one needs a knife for. Unless you want to do a whole Lady and the Tramp thing, but with a big block of Sharp Vermont Cheddar. My god that's romantic.



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!


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!


I live in a world of cheese, all of it there for the taking. Cheese hanging from the trees, cheese raining from the sky. A world where cheese is an accepted form of currency, an appetizer, a meal, a way of life, an acceptable thing to wear to a formal occasion. Where you can love cheese as you wish, and it doesn't accuse you of being codependent.

A world of possibilities, all of them shot through with cheese.


I have done my hajj to Vermont. I have bowed before an alter of delicious sharp cheddar, and then eaten it. I didn't have to go to the bathroom for four days.

Award winning?
Soul winning!


I have been to the monument to cheese along the AT in Cheshire! I have leaned against it, filled with thoughts of cheese! I have gone to the post office across the street, taken a picture, and been drawn magnetically back to "the Big Cheese Monument." Intending to stay in town for a moment, I stayed for what felt a lifetime.

Then I went to the convenience store on the way out of town, and bought some cheese.

[excuses]

For that 2-4 day hike any of the block cheeses work well.

[kayak karl]

i don't eat cheese or chocolate while hiking
I understand the walking sticks, shelters, unfiltered water, slackpaking, general rudness, liking alcohol, but no cheese and chocolate! do you hate apple pie too?:D

[Lone Wolf]

next to blueberry pie, apple pie is my favorite dessert

[kayak karl]

next to blueberry pie, apple pie is my favorite dessert
go figure:-?

[Ewker]

Smoked Gouda is one of my favorites

[Lone Wolf]

Smoked Gouda is one of my favorites

smoked with 1 arm or 2?

[cachica]

Generally cheese gets it's sharpness from aging, and the longer something is aged, the more oil that drains out of it... and the more expensive. I did a cross countr road trip with a friend and didn't refridg any of the cheese we ate... did a lot of sharp cheddar and the mess was manageable. DON"T do american or anything highly processed. **Note** I am a person who loves cheese and will pay for it. But on the trail yo are what you eat. avoid crap.

[astrogirl]

I bring cheese all the time. I also bring butter. Yeah, seriously -- I had an accident with olive oil, and ever since then, butter in a little gladware (salted butter -- unsalted is NOT designed to keep at room temperature).

I wouldn't bring butter in high summer, but I don't hike when it's that hot -- I just don't enjoy it.

Cheese stays quite nice in my pack, even on days it gets well into the 80s.

If it's going to be a hot day, try prepping your lunch in the morning when dairy stuff will be at it's coldest. Cut up the cheese then and wrap it in tortillas or store it however you're planning to eat it. Then you won't have to handle it when it's a little greasy.

When I was doing cheese sandwiches in the late spring early summer, I'd make them at breakfast.

[Bootstrap]

Actually, in the spring, any reasonably hard cheese should keep for a long time, including cheddar. If it turns warm, remember that you can wrap your cheese bag in clothing to insulate it.

Yup.

I cut mine in 1" cubes ahead of time, it makes it easier to use. I often snack on it as I go, or add it to grits, make quesadillas by melting cheese in a tortilla with some crushed red pepper, etc.

Jonathan

[GGS2]

If you really want butter on the trail, try rendered butter. That's butter melted with the protein skimmed off. Indians call it ghee, and it's a staple all over the subcontinent. Think tropical heat and no spoilage. In the summer it is like olive oil, liquid, so you have to pack it in a bottle or jar, like a peanut butter jar. However, warning: Butter has a powerful smell, and it's hard to hide, like bacon. So, if you are in bear country, it might be better to pack a less fragrant oil.