I love flavourful cheeses! Unfortunately the cheeses that keep best when backpacking, Edam, Gouda and Leerdammer, are only fit for re-soling boots.
Can anyone recommend a really tasty cheese that can be carried in the rucksack for several days?
|
 |
 I haven't tried it, but would guess something hard like Spenwood would do the trick. Haven't eaten yet tonight, and this thread isn't helping....
|
 |
 How about a barely ripe brie or camembert that would gradually ripen and mature tastefully over the next few days?
|
 |
 I'm a cheese fan as well, so something better than Baby Bel's would be welcome. 
|
 |
 Parmesan or Pecorino, They're hard bastards but tasty and keep really well
|
 |
 I find Cheddar lasts okay and there are some good strong varieties. Hugh, if you get good quality Edam and Gouda rather than the tasteless mockeries found in supermarkets it's very tasty.
|
 |
 Well if you're going that way, Kate, be bold and grab a Stinking Bishop! You'd certainly get solitude in your journey.... But yeah, a nice unpasturised Brie De Meaux - pour a bit on your bread when you want it. Delicious!
|
 |
 An oatcake on top of a cast-iron bothy stove with some cheese slowly melting on it. Mmmmmm.
|
 |
 nice. whats for supper then? toasted cheese anybody? Drool
|
 |
 Well if you're going that way, Kate, be bold and grab a Stinking Bishop! You'd certainly get solitude in your journey....
I hope you meant grab a piece of the cheese called Stinking Bishop
|
| Edited: 25/07/08 20:30 |
 The only cheese my bottle crashed with, was Limburger. I couldn't get past the smell! 
|
 |
 mini babybel
|
 |
 Chris is right about Gouda... I used to think it was a bit balnd too, but now I have a sister-in-law that makes the Real Stuff I know differently... In the UK it's not too hard to get "Old Amsterdam", which is an aged Gouda and not at all bad. Otherwise good cheese shops should have a range where the power of the flavour is pretty much proportional to age. The oldest (well plast a year) is quite hard and has salt crystals that have grown in it for extra crunch! It's also avaialble in all ages with cumin mixed in which gives more flavour. In Norway my wife and I usually carry some Jarlsberg and some Brunost with us and we've had no problems with it going off. Both keep well, and the brown cheese is now available at some UK specialists (usually the goats-milk derived geitost but not always). The brown cheese is quite odd, being sweet (the brown is from letting the mix caramelise, I believe), so it's not like most cheese but something to eat on its own terms. We find it goes very well on oatcakes as a sort of sweet/savoury pick-me-up snack. There's also gamelost (literally "old cheese") which although brown, isn't sweet... I can't recommend it for taste at all, but it'll certainly keep well! I quite often take Gruyere with me. Seems to keep well and is the cheese of choice for fondues, which make excellent camping food when combined with suitable dips: bread and veg mainly. A trangia is pretty much a perfect fondue set! Lanark blue should be safe. Anything tries to decompose that aside from its own mould is probably going to get itself killed! Makes Roquefort taste like Dairylea... Pete.
|
 |
Thanks, chaps for your good advice. I shall follow up your leads.
|
 |
 Boursin garlic cheese. It's already soft so doesn't matter if it gets battered a bit and is perfect as the filling between two hobnobs 
|
 |
 I trust you mean plain hobnobs, Dave, and not the chocolate ones?
|
 |
 Of course Kate....I don't eat chocolate!
|
 |
 Well if you're going that way, Kate, be bold and grab a Stinking Bishop! You'd certainly get solitude in your journey....
I hope you meant grab a piece of the cheese called Stinking Bishop
....either way, Ben, you'd get plenty of solitude!
|
 |
If you are into cheese, and ever in Glasgow or Edinburgh, then Mellis Cheesmonger is well worth a visit. Their Glasgow shop is just down the road from me, and as well as fantastic British cheeses they sell interesting salamis, hams and excellent breads. A great place to grab the ingredients for some tasty hill-food on the way up the A82 to the Highlands. Some of their cheeses come in small sizes, so would probably be particularly suitable for backpacking, but I'm sure most decent cheeses would keep in greaseproof paper for a few days - after all, unlike industrial supermarket rubber, they mature for months.
|
 |
 Similarly, if you are in Reading check out County Delicacies in the Butts - not quite as good as it used to be, but still a great shop. And if you are in Manchester pop into Didsbury and check out the Cheese Hamlet, which is most excellent.
|
 |