Long life Cheese

[Bushman Ben]

Hi Guys,

New here; I have been thinking about some of my longer hikes, and I would love the chance to have a chunk of cheese that i can use with Salami or wraps etc. I do a lot of pack hikes, so no refrigeration. Can anybody suggest a cheese that would do the trick? Even a hardened cheese or something that is wax sealed?

[jose]

Plain cheddar keeps quite well if wrapped in a clean chux or muslin before putting in plastic bag. I've walked 15 days in summer carrying a 300g block and had no problem with mould. The chux absorbs the oil and keeps the cheese dry. When the chux gets too oily after about 5 days I just change the chux.

[Bushman Ben]

Thanks for that Jose, sounds like a good idea. I actually had a chat with a friend of mine about some hardened cheeses, and he suggested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette

I haven't tried it yet, but it does look interesting; looks like it would be a great one for having on meals that would call for melted cheese.

[rogo]

raclette is the king of fondue cheese.

[juju]

I always take good old Kraft Cheddar. It probably doesn't have anything real in it to go off, a bit like the stuff they use in Maccas...

[corvus]

I know it is not proper cheese but for years I have been using "Happy Cow" processed cheese triangles they do not need to kept cold and the are easy to carry and taste OK when on the track.
corvus

[Macca81]

Parmmisan or similar always accompanies me on a hike. Wintertime i will take just about any cheese i feel like, as it is all capable of lasting a week outside of refrigeration no problems (highly processed pretend cheese which has never actually gone through a fermentation process excluded...)

[Bushman Ben]

So the other thing that I have turned up in my investigation is the possibility of a cheese-cloth (duh) soaked in Vinegar to preserve the cheese. This is what I believe to be the old-school medieval style of preserving cheese. Has anybody tried that?

[gayet]

The vinegar acts as a mould inhibitor - it won't prevent the cheese from becoming oily in high temperatures, it may assist in reducing bacterial growth but some of them like acidic environments too. It will certainly assist in mould retardation though, if thats what you want.

[Perry]

I have successfully used wax coated vintage cheddar on a couple of mild weather hikes (say up to 20 C) but it really was a bit of a disaster on a recenet warm to hot weather hike on hinchinbrook island (mid to high 20s and high humidity). The wax split and oil ran every where in my food bag. Best wrapping it in an absorbent material as mentioned above. On subsequnet warm-hot weather trips I intend to take a hard cheese like Romano, Pecorino or Parmesan

Perry

[Liamy77]

cheese is still edible mouldy, sweaty and old....... unlike our walking companions
Cheese is the preserved form of dairy!

[WadeThrupp]

cheese is still edible mouldy

Please provide source

[Moondog55]

So long as it's blue mould it should be OK
Avoid black moulds and pink spots tho
I usually take processed cheese for longer walks or at least I did when I did long walks
Hard low fat cheeses keep quite well and Kraft parmesan in the plastic tubes seems to keep for over a year until the packaging is opened
Kraft Velveeta was my favourite because it spread in cold weather

[ribuck]

According to the Mayo Clinic website
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifes ... q-20058492
you should throw away any soft product with mould on it (brie, camembert, grapes, etc) because strands of mould will be right through it, enough to be harmful even though not visible.

On the other hand, a hard product such as Cheddar or Parmesan is OK to eat provided you cut away 2.5cm around and below the mouldy bit.

[Stew63]

My mate gave me some Australian Army ration canned cheddar cheese to try which is pretty good for hiking - not 'gourmet' but good enough for me. From memory it's a NZ cheddar and canned in NZ. If only they sold it in stores

[vagrom]

!!

Attachments

Screenshot_2019-08-12-16-28-13-1.png (127.63 KiB) Viewed 50525 times

[warnesy]

I take hard cheeses in the middle of summer, progressively more aged as the hike goes on. Parmegiano Regiano 18 or 24 month aged last fine for the last couple of days of a six day hike.

[Huntsman247]

I took a 1kg block of cracker barrel cheddar last month on a walk. Was delicious. My socks ripened faster than the cheese.

[vagrom]

This one's a decent flavour. The slices are handy - a single broken in two fits between two Vita Wheat sandwiches with Vegemite as well and some Rocket for the gourmet.
But summer definitely requires enclosure in a Snaplock bag and perhaps Alfoil wrapping and a Chux too.

Attachments

[Heremeahappy1]

My mate gave me some Australian Army ration canned cheddar cheese to try which is pretty good for hiking - not 'gourmet' but good enough for me. From memory it's a NZ cheddar and canned in NZ. If only they sold it in stores

I remember canned cheese. Was only eaten if you didnt want to cr@p for a week.

[Mark F]

Vagrom - While you can get away with carrying just about anything for weekend trips, I suggest you avoid anything that is pre-sliced for longer excursions. The more surface area the greater the ability and likelihood of bacteria and moulds developing. That said, cheese is a very successful way of preserving milk and I feel that much of the fuss about the shelf life of cheese and many other products is the outcome of too many ads making out that everything must be "germ free" to be safe.

[vagrom]

I've carried this stuff over 8 days in summer Tassie Mark and the only problem i've found is sweating, never mould. Once you've noted this it's just a matter of protecting it as best as possible - packing it deep and isolating with Snaplock, Alfoil and Chux. No mould and a plastic knife to separate the slices. They allow for regular portioning to keep an eye on days ahead.

I guess Salami presents the same problem. For meat I just carry flat, fish-packs of Tuna or Salmon for lunch and Back Country mince to add to cheap, pasta dinner-packs.

[onward]

I often carry a hard cheddar cut into 50gm blocks and vacuum sealed, these have survived in food drops for a couple of months in late summer/autumn. Also tried them stored in my shed over summer for about 6 weeks, other than sweating out the oils they were ok to eat. Have had the odd one develop mould...I now cut them on wax paper using a fork and knife and do not touch them when I vacuum seal them and haven't had the issue again. Oh none have leaked out of the vacuum bag...which is a bonus

[wildwanderer]

Vintage cheese or basically any hard cheese has worked well for me.

Even the Coles packaged pre sliced vintage cheese and crackers work well for 3-4 days with a bit of oil in the plastic container by day 2 but everything still tasting good.(I've not used pre sliced beyond day 4 but I probably would in cool conditions)

For a recent NZ trip a hardish cheese wrapped in brown paper bag followed by a plastic zip lock worked great for over 6 days.

I typically go with anything that says 'aged'on the label.

[flingebunt]

Softer cheeses will last 2 or 3 days in cooler weather. So don't discount adding Camembert or brie to your pack for the first day or two.

Generally speaker, the drier the cheese, the longer it will last. Parmesan is usually the go to cheese for hiking. But there are lots of drier cheeses to think about. Cheddar gets mixed reviews from people, but as mentioned already, it depends on the variety. You can get semi dry (not the regular type) mozzarella cheese.

[CraigVIC]

It only works up to a certain temperature but I wrap block cheddar in paper towel. When it sweats the paper towel soaks it up and it isn't noticeable and stays palatable for a few days

[fussy]

My mate gave me some Australian Army ration canned cheddar cheese to try which is pretty good for hiking - not 'gourmet' but good enough for me. From memory it's a NZ cheddar and canned in NZ. If only they sold it in stores

They do.
In the spreads (vegemite/jam/peanut paste) section of the supermarket, in a blue cardboard box, you will find Kraft cheese. 250/500gm. Great shelf life without refrigeration.

[kymboy]

I believe they have rebranded the old Kraft cheese and now it's called Dairylea.

I had a look in my local Woolies yesterday and it's on the shelf right below the Vegemite. I checked the use-by date on the box - May 2020!