Trail Pimento Cheese
Powdered cheddar, freeze-dried cream cheese, and a jar of pimentos, rehydrated into a spread for crackers at camp.
- calories
- 300
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 136
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Lunch
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Cheddar cheese powder | 1/2 cup | the sharp kind sold for popcorn, not a mac and cheese packet |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried cream cheese powder | 1/4 cup | sold for baking; sour cream powder also works |
| Powdered whole egg mayonnaise | 3 tbsp | or shelf-stable mayo packets from a deli counter |
| Diced pimentos | 2 oz jar | drained; a small jar survives a pack better than a can |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Yellow mustard | 1 tsp | a fast food packet |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1/2 tsp | carried in a dropper bottle |
| Hot sauce | 1/2 tsp | packet or dropper |
Method
- Pour the dry mix into a quart freezer bag. Add 60 ml of cold water, a little at a time.
- Work the bag with your hands until the powder takes up the water and there are no dry pockets. It will look too thin. Wait.
- Add the mustard, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Squeeze the pimentos dry against the jar lid and add them too.
- Let it sit ten minutes in the shade. The powders keep swelling and it stiffens into a spread.
- Cut a corner off the bag and squeeze it onto crackers, or eat it with a spoon.
Pimento cheese at home is cream cheese, mayonnaise, and grated cheddar beaten together and chilled. None of that travels. This version rebuilds the same thing from powders: cheddar cheese powder for the sharpness, cream cheese powder for the tang and body, powdered mayonnaise for the fat that makes it a spread rather than a paste.
The water amount matters more than the ratios. Go in under 60 ml and add the rest slowly, because the powders drink for several minutes after they look finished. Too much water and you have cheese soup with no way to fix it. The pimentos need to be squeezed dry first for the same reason.
Packing
All the powders and spices go in one bag at home. Pimentos, mustard, and the sauce bottles ride separately so a leak does not ruin the dry mix.
Variations
- Skip the water entirely and pack it as a dip powder for the last night of a car-camping trip, where a cooler can carry real cream cheese instead.
- Stir a spoonful into hot instant grits or mashed potatoes for a dinner instead of a snack.
- A drained pouch of chicken turns it into a sandwich filling.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/your-favorite-southern-style-pimento-cheese-spread-palmetto-copycat-recipe