Large Size Parmesan Paketsand/or Parmesan Resupply “Handling”

The powdered stuff in the salad dressing aisle is unrefrigerated on the shelf. Label probably recommends putting it in the fridge but i’m sure it would last at least a week+ on the trail if you keep it out of the sun. Fresh block style cheese would probably last just as long… Amy Lauterbach had a write up on her SEKI trip where she carried cheese. She said “Hard cheese and cured pork are the staples of shepherds world-wide, where they are out for days with no refrigerators. Nothing innovative about it :)” Take a look here.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/67838

At least for something like a thru hike. I used small zipper bags for my Parmesan cheese and it looked like someone shredded it with a knife. Didn't think much after the first one, but every resupply had the same thing. I suspect the oils in the cheese dissolved the PE. Bags. Had the same thing happen with peanut butter as well.

OK, here is my take on the old green can cheese. yes, it says to refrigerate it – after opening. Anyone who is around 40 or older remembers when it wasn't. This isn't advice but I carry it all the time in the store brand mini shakers. Sometimes a month old. It never smells off either.

I guess I have been using my local whole foods style grocery for too many years, but ALL of my Parmesan comes in plastic containers that are refrigerated. If there are no additional chemicals then I suppose it is about the same anyway. I do remember the green containers.

As a foodie I would poo poo all of them, but I not going to carry around a chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano on a backpacking trip. :-) maybe the stuff in the green container will be the ticket for sitting in a resupply package for 3-4 weeks.

Kraft sez its OK to store at room temp.

https://kraftfoods.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/651/kw/parmesan

Craft %100 Grated Parmesan Cheese Ingredients:

Parmesan Cheese (Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Cellulose Powder to Prevent Caking, Potassium Sorbate to Protect Flavor.

Humm, "%100"? To quote Inigo Montoya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

Anyway, I suppose extra "aging" may make it gourmet.

The name is accurate, 100% of the contents are grated :-)

In my experience, Kraft or knockoffs will last weeks to months in vacuum-sealed pouches, if packed in very clean conditions.

For a recent 8-day trip, I dumped Trader Joe's green can unrefrigerated parmesan cheese into Ziplocs with all the other ingredients and had no problems.

— Rex

Lol…the cellulose (yummy trees ya know!) keeps it from turning rock hard. It is all the rage and hey keeps you pooping from that handy fiber ;-)

Anyhow, is it gourmet? Buying Kraft green can isn't. But it also lasts a loooong time. The Trader Joe's can is the same thing, and even drier in texture than Kraft.

Hmmm, a quick internet look-up says that "real" parmesan, or "Parmigiano-Reggiano", is a hard, aged, grating cheese that requires no refrigeration. I know Kraft parmesan will last a long, long time, but I wonder about those "whole foods" parmesan knock-offs that aren't really any more parmesan than Kraft, but are made with less preservatives and such and are supposed to be better for you. They might actually go bad out in the wild, unlike either of the two extremes of authenticity.

This was an interesting read on the subject:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/11/19/the-dark-side-of-parmesan-cheese-what-you-dont-know-might-hurt-you/

Yes, like a LOT of cheese it is designed to be just fine (the last new cheese was probably invented in the middle ages) unrefrigerated up to the point where you cut into it. Grating something is a different story – no special surface that seals it (even if it is only mold), and huge surface to volume ratio. So there is zero reason to automatically assume the grated form behaves like the block form. Food snobs will tell you you have to grate it right before you eat it, so (at least for some people) it changes taste rather quickly, let alone other properties.

Also, the last part is exactly what I was implying before – the stuff full of chemicals will probably have a longer shelf life and therefore may be better for backpacking. And like Sarah said, the cellulose will at least get the stuff out of your system quicker. :-)

Resupply with whole cheese instead and spend the nights around the campfire whittling it with your SAK classic in lieu of grating?

It is funny/sad to me, that in some recipes the green can cheese actually works better than the real fancy stuff. I buy both – but sometimes the green can stuff just mixes in better than freshly grated ;-)

When I hiked to the base camp of mount everest our second-to-last tea house stop was nasty nasty nasty. It was so dank and cold and smelled SO bad….it had been snowing outside for the past few days, the world was cold and wet and we couldn't see more than 20 feet (everest? really? where?)

But around the communal eating area (a large table with benches stuck on the walls, covered in awesomely dirty carpets), with the yak dung fire roaring in the middle, on a shelf high above, glowing like an angel from heaven, was a green can of kraft parmesan cheese.

It was the best stuff I had ever eaten in my life.

LOL… CONTEXT is everything!

Now that is hilarious ;-)

6 gram packets of can be had for a quarter…

http://www.minimus.biz/Kraft-Parmesan-Cheese-packet-F01-0700302-1100.aspx