Longest lasting cheese

[casey]

How long will a block of chedder cheese last on the trail before going bad? Whats the best brand to get?

[MDSHiker]

I've had good luck with all kinds of block cheese. Keep it out of the sun, keep it cool, keep your fingers off of it (kinda hard to do). When it gets green...just cut if off. haha I'm sure other posters can give more advice. Enjoy!!

[TankHiker]

Cheese is great to carry when it's not too hot out. Mine always lasted until I ate it (or until my next town stop, where I would get more). I always liked the Kraft cheddar, but any will keep.

You will have a problem, however, when it gots hot. The cheese melts and gets juicy. So, enjoy your cheese at the beginning and end of your hike, when the weather will most likely be cooler. Don't plan on eating much cheese in Pennsylvania

-Tank

[mindlessmariachi]

one of the great zen-like moments I had on my thru hike was when i came to the realization that cheese really doesnt need to be refrigerated. i think it's just a rumor foisted upon us by refrigerator manufacturers. I carried cheese all thru the very hot summer of 02. Cheddar cheese, to be precise. GO for 'sharp' - it's firmer. ON a good 90 degree day, you're cheese will get pretty gooey, and the oil will separate out from the cheese, but it still tastes good and it wont hurt you. - oh - a hunk of melty cheese is a good way to spice up a 'lipton.'

[Kozmic Zian]

Yea.....Cheese? You'd be surprised how much 'refrig food'....stuff we refrigerate at home, will stay quite well on The Trail. I usually try to get the 'Kraft' style, long, rectangular blocks of cheese. Put it in a zipper lock. The thickness of the block seems to keep the 'woolies' from jumpin' on for a ride. I even take the smallest jar of mayo you can buy, sos I can put the cheese, and sprouts(I sprout my own in a nalgean bottle)on a bagle or crossant. The mayo lasts for a 4 or 5 day walk too. Just put it all in your food stuffie, and deep in the pack under the clothes. It'll keep long enough....KZ@

[Peep]

The cheese that keeps the longest is the hard kind with that waxy stuff on the outside (like skin). Keep it in the large brick shape as long as you can - it'll last for quite a while on your hike. I made the mistake of cutting it into small cubes to have it in snack size bites, then into a baggie. The stuff softened into mush....still tasted good but I was licking it off my fingers.

[Doctari]

As posted, the sharp cheddar is best. I have had Extry Sharp last 4 days out o da frige no problem. Keep as kool as possible, leve in its plastic wrapper when not being used, etc. I also find that the waxed cheese like gouda lasts long, as long as it is in it's wax. And as it usually comes in small amounts, I can eat one in a sitting, so don't know how it lasts out of the wax.

Doctari.

[weary]

As posted, the sharp cheddar is best. I have had Extry Sharp last 4 days out o da frige no problem. Keep as kool as possible, leve in its plastic wrapper when not being used, etc. I also find that the waxed cheese like gouda lasts long, as long as it is in it's wax. And as it usually comes in small amounts, I can eat one in a sitting, so don't know how it lasts out of the wax.

Doctari.

Country stores in Maine -- and I suppose everywhere else -- kept sharp cheddar and similar cheeses -- on the counter, unrefrigerated, for weeks at a time while I was growing up. We called it "rat cheese" but we all ate it.

I vaguely remember that storekeepers wiped it occasionally with a rag soaked in vinegar, to keep the mold at bay. BTW, it is much more tasty when eaten warm, than fresh from a refrigerator.

In hot back packs (black backpacks are designed for fashion, not for hiking) the oil tends to separate. This does nothing to the food value. But it is an aesthetic and taste (not serious, but some people are fastidious) problem.

Weary

[Cosmo]

I find the sharper/harder the cheese the longer it lasts. I also prefer a cheese with a strong lavor. A good romano or parmesan does pretty well, and adds a bit of zest to the Liptons. They keep longer if you don't open the packaging, so smaller store wrapped chunks may be the (expensve) way to go, rather than a larger brick. Cheese can also be frozen, adding perhaps another day to it's trail life, if you are operating from home base rather than a typical resupply on a long distance hike.

Cosmo

[beckon4]

I think Cheddar is a perfect hiking food. I carried it practically every day on my thru hike. Keep it in a zip lock bag and in the coolest part of your bag.

Cheddar(getting better with age) /Beth

[highway]

How long will a block of chedder cheese last on the trail before going bad? Whats the best brand to get?

I don't know the best brand to get but I do know that cheese was developed a very loooonnnng time before refrigerators or even ice boxes became available to put it in. Many hundreds, if not thousands of years before, in fact. And, some of the mold is really not bad, either. The slightly crusty mold that develops on some of the softer cheeses like Camenbert is eaten along with the soft cheese inside and is part of the flavor of the cheese. I believe the green in roquefort is also a mold, forming originally where it was stored, in caves in France. But, of course, it does better in cooler climates or temperatures, obviously.

[Krewzer]

If you're just starting down in Georgia, a pound block of cheddar could last 3, maybe 4 days.

By the time you get to Maine, it might last 10 minutes if you buy a box of crackers to go with it. <grin>

Seriously, I've carried it at least 4 or 5 days with no problems. That's about as as much food supply as I like to carry anyway.

krewzer

[gravityman]

I can't believe that no one has said "frumunda cheese" or "Toe Cheese"

That stuff never went away

[steve hiker]

grated parmesan it'll last forever + 1 day and weighs less than oily cheese

[Bear Magnet]

How long will a block of chedder cheese last on the trail before going bad? Whats the best brand to get?

Hi Casey-

As others have said, cheese can last 4-5 days even in the hot summer. The oils tend to separate in hot weather, but you can still eat the cheese.

I found that Cabot Lodge Extra Sharp Cheddar lasted pretty well. That was my favorite cheese on the trail, and seemed to last longer than Kraft cheese. You can find Cabot Lodge in most grocery stores. In smaller shops you might only be able to get Kraft, though.

Bear Magnet

[Moose2001]

Cabot cheese.....yummmmmm!!! Two great things Vermont has given to hikers. Ben and Jerry's and Cabot Cheese!!!!!

[Hood Ornament]

When I first started hiking in 1993 I carried the 8oz block of Kraft mild cheddar cheese. At the time it had preservatives in it. I did this every year until one year I read the ingredients again on the Kraft block cheese and found it no longer listed preservatives, but the packaged slice cheese did. So then I started carrying the Kraft mild cheddar sliced cheese with each slice individually wrapped. I still do this, and have found that a lot of small stores carry the sliced cheese, but not the block cheese. I always section hike in July or August for up to 17 days. I've carried this cheese for up to 10 days before resupplying and I've never had mold grow on it, or oil leach out. Both the block and the sliced cheese have taken unusual twisted shapes in my pack, however.

[SteelReserve]

Those Baby Bel cheeses last a long time as they are individually wrapped in wax, as well as further individually wrapped in plastic. And as has been said before, Parmesan/Romano will also last a long time.

[Hikes in Rain]

The harder grating cheeses, such as parmesian, romano and assagio tend to keep a lot longer than softer cheeses, particularly in warm weather. For most distances between resupply, however, it shouldn't be a factor.

[hoz]

Ditto on the above. Hard cheeses last longer. Cheddar oil will separate in hot weather but is still edible. I've carried Cheddar for a two weeks in the bush. Probably would have lasted longer but I ate it all!

Remove cheese from it's plastic covering and repackage wrapped in vinegar soaked cheesecloth. The vinegar helps reduce mold and if any oil seeps out the cheesecloth soaks it up.