Cheese on the PCT (guidebook interp 101)

imported
#1

I like cheese. It’s a mess to dehydrate (well, that is my evaluation after trying the experiment).

I have a lot of maildrops along the PCT. In some of these places (eg Warner Springs, Tuolomne) the resupply is described as something other than “great” (eg limited, or possible, etc).

For these spots, cheese is listed as one of the things you can find at the gas station/mini mart etc.

Can anyone tell me: is this real cheese? Honest-to-goodness blocks of cheddar, or is it “kraft singles processed cheese slices”?

My real question: in Yogi’s guidebook, when it says “cheese”, is it real or processed cheese or either?

Thanks
Sophie

Sophie

#2

Mostly you’ll find blocks of kraft cheddar, which doesn’t really resemble cheddar, but it isn’t the processed plastic stuff either.

Suge

#3

Either string cheese, or blocks of cheese. Not processed cheese.

yogi

www.pcthandbook.com

yogi

#4

Thanks guys, that’s great! :slight_smile:

Sophie

Sophie

#5

Sophie, I used dehydrated cheese that I purchased at beprepared.com. Used my vacumn sealer to make little pouches of it. In the beginning it was great but as the hike wore on it didn’t want to rehydrate as well and was clumpy. Switched to real blocks and individual servings when it was hot.

socks

#6

I recently obtained some dehydrated cheddar cheese powder from Walton Feed (http://waltonfeed.com/) that is fabulous. It’s pure dehydrated cheese, done with spray dehydration gear, a process not easy to replicate at home. It mixes up into great cheese sauces and does wonders as an addition to recipes. It can’t satisfy that primal urge for a good chunk (or runny wedge, in my case) of the original product, but it’s a lot better than nothing when your 30 miles from a road crossing.

Strategic

#7

Just buy a hunk of cheese in town when you can, and throw it in a ziplock with the rest of your food. Most cheese will not go bad in the 3-5 days you’ll have it around. It might get a bit slimy, but big deal… It’s a bit heavy, but also has lots of good calories, and tastes great.

In general, a lot of stuff we refrigerate doesn’t need it over the short term. Many foods were developed in the pre-refrigeration days, and do just fine in a backpack for a few days at least. Another favorite of mine is cream cheese! Yum!

-Jonathan

Jonathan

#8

If you can keep your bare fingers off most cheese, it will keep much longer. Hold it with a plastic bag when you go to cut it. Likewise, dipping into shredded cheese with your fingers, will start the mold even in your fridge.

:eek:

Lady Di

#9

Anybody know what the availability of cream cheese and bagels is along the PCT? It wasn’t in my diet the first time around. Just wondering.

Apple Pie

#10

Nearly all decent groceries will have cream cheese… bagels? a little more hit/miss but still fairly ubiquitous. Another thing that works well (I think) is Ritz crackers (or wheat thins) and cream cheese. The cream cheese in the little plastic tubs works well - the other option is the kind in the foil wrapper, but that’ll turn to mush in no time. You can scoop-out the cream cheese in the plastic tubs. (of course, then you have a plastic tub to carry, but they’re pretty light…).

Jonathan

#11

Parmesan cheese smells like barf the second day out on the trail. Don’t try it.

nemo

#12

Snappy and i made the rest of our maildrops for the PCT when we were in Ashland,OR. WE put bagels in all of our boxes. We used Thomas and Sara lee brand. Sara lee lasted longer than thomas, much longer!As for the cream cheese it was a hit or a miss, most of the time a hit. However, bagels were harder to find(our thomas bagels went moldy) than the cream cheese. Most stores did carry cream cheese but no bagels, how ironic.

puff puff

#13

Pre-grated parmesan cheese (Kraft or store brand) doesn’t require refrigeration and lasts forever. We put it in all our mail drops and added it to just about every dinner. Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, TVP and olive oil were our magic ingredients.

G-Smurf