Food Reviews, Cottonwood Pass trip: Packit Gourmet Picnic Potato Salad

Chicken Spring Lake, just before twilight.

At the end of a sweltering 12 mile day with plenty of tedious route finding, I can't think of anything more appetizing than a rich, tangy bowl of good potato salad with lots of pickles or cornichons. As such, I was extremely excited a few weekends ago in the Golden Trout Wilderness area to finally try Packit Gourmet's Gourmet Picnic Potato Salad. I was pretty beaten and bruised by the time we arrived at Chicken Spring Lake around 3PM, and thoroughly grateful with my past self for having the foresight to plan an afternoon snack devoid of almonds, dried fruit, or oats. With feet pounding, I quickly assembled the always easy-to-prepare PIG pouch and let it marinate. The result was tasty and satisfying, albeit with a few minor issues.

Flavor, Nina: 7/10

Flavor, Dennis:  6.5/10

Ease at camp: 6/10 (time, lots of packets, burst packets)

Price: $6.99
Would buy again: Yes, but not with total enthusiasm

Best for: a generous snack on a low mileage day

Praise: At 840 calories/bag, this is an excellent calorie bomb. The creaminess and tang of the mayonnaise are flavors and textures you don't get a lot of in the backcountry. As far as flavor, I've had much worse potato salads freshly prepared. It's a very salty, briney, relish-y, refreshing treat. Dennis in particular was loving the relish flavor. 

Criticism: takes a while to rehydrate, much more than the recommended 20-30 minutes with cool water. I used warm water and it took over an hour, and even then some potato pieces were not completely rehydrated. Dennis' primary complaint was textural, the potatoes were starchy and the centers of some were dry just due to poor rehydration. Another significant issue was that 3/5 of the mayonnaise packets had burst due to elevation. I used them anyway since I figured that had happened sometime in the preceding hours, but it would have been a huge downer if I'd planned on having this meal 4 days in and the mayo had long since burst and gone foul. In addition, the burst mayo packets were a real pain to  eal with, messy as hell. So if you're planning on picking this up and heading over 10k elevation, keep a close eye on the mayo packets, that could be an issue. 

Notes:
Tempting to recreate, but with a german potato salad: tarragon, whole grain mustard, mayo, onion, etc. Might even get lucky with some wild Sierra onions. If I were to make this again, I'd consider submerging the potatoes in cold water for several hours to rehydrate, then draining them once ready, and dressing them. The dry, starchy bits are pretty unpleasant, although I was only 2 days removed from civilization when I had them so I was still a little picky. 5 days in, I think I'd have zero complaints. Oh, and a final recommendation with this dish, like all PIG products it has a ton of extra air inside and takes up a lot of space in a bear can, so open the bag up and release the air before you pack it.