Food & Drink: Eat into the wild

Just because you’re roughing it in the woods doesn’t mean you have to rough up your stomach. In other words, consider a different path than your uber-technical hiking friends who stock up on dehydrated astronaut food at outdoorsy stores. That stuff’s not worth the 4 ounces on your back. Instead, make them jealous with camping-friendly foods that are local and yummy. Or, if you’re nice, share.

Meaty sweetness

Jerky is a mainstay of camping cuisine because it satisfies the outdoorsy trifecta: preserved, palatable and protein-packed. And lucky us—we happen to have our very own locally made hand-packed beef strips. Midtown Jerky offers three tasty flavors ($8 each, $20 for all three) that fuse meaty sweetness with savory complexity: sesame citrus, peppered and sweet heat.

Preservation & Co., 1717 19th Street; Midtown Farmers Market, 1050 20th Street; https://mkt.com/midtownjerky.

Better than chips

Fresh almonds are the perfect active food—dry, storable for weeks and easily popped in your mouth even as you’re lugging your butt up a steep trail. The orange honey almonds ($3 for a quarter-pound, $6 for half a pound, $10 per pound) from Artois Nut Ranch in Glenn County are snackable like potato chips. They’re ever-so-lightly salty and citrusy sweet, without having a thick coat of sugar the way some flavored almonds do.

Find it every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Midtown Farmers Market. 1050 20th Street, www.facebook.com/
MidtownFarmersMarketSacramento.

Grown-up PB&J

The Upper Crust Baking Co.’s honey wheat loaf ($6) tastes sweetly delicious and oh-so soft to make for a supple PB&J. All that, and it boasts ground flaxseed and three kinds of omega-3 fatty acids. It’s available at local farmers markets as well as other locations.

http://uppercrustbaking.com/
where-to-find-us.

Jam on it

Capay Organic’s sumptuous aprium jam ($7 for 10 oz.) mashes up a lesser known fruit that’s a hybrid between the bright flavor of apricot and the darker, richer juices of a plum. The full-bodied J will complement many a PB. Pick it up every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Midtown Farmers Market.

1050 20th Street, www.facebook.com/
MidtownFarmersMarketSacramento.

Nutty delicious

Forget commercial peanut butter and instead grind your own peanuts for the freshest, nuttiest flavor possible. At $3.99 a pound, this is a deal for organic nut butter. Plus, you can put it in the travel-sized jar of your choosing.

Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, 2820 R Street, https://sacfood.coop.

Go ahead, you earned it

No, this doughnut ($2.75) won’t last forever, but it will stay fresh for a day or so. And no, it’s not healthful, but after hiking, you’ve earned it. This lightweight, moist (and vegan!) dough won’t weigh you or your backpack down. A glaze of citrus dotted with poppy seeds makes it fun to bite with a satisfying crackle before you hit the cakey center. Find it at pop-up locations around town.

www.consciouscreamery.com/calendar.