Regional specialties: yak cheese, Marpha apples and apple brandy

The best-known local foods on Nepal's trekking routes come from three places. In the Langtang valley, the cheese factories at Kyanjin Gompa and Sing Gompa sell fresh and hard yak cheese. In the Kali Gandaki valley, the Thakali village of Marpha is known for its apple orchards and for apple brandy and cider. And across the Himalaya you will meet chhurpi, the rock-hard dried cheese that people chew for hours. This guide tells you where to taste each, what to ask and how to buy them respectfully, so you can plan a lunch stop around them.

Marpha: apples, brandy and a tidy village

Marpha is a Thakali village in the Kali Gandaki valley, and the way to reach it is on the later part of the Annapurna Circuit. In our 14-day plan, day 10 takes you from Muktinath to Jomsom at 2,720 m, and day 11 follows the Kali Gandaki south through Tukuche and Marpha to Kalopani at 2,530 m. Marpha is the natural lunch stop on that walk, a village of whitewashed flat-roofed houses clustered on a slope, with stone-paved lanes between them. The wind in the Kali Gandaki valley is well known: it tends to blow up the gorge in the afternoon, so people plan to reach their day's destination early.

The apples, grown in orchards around the village, are the local business. Local families sell fresh apples in autumn, dried apple slices, apple jam, cider and apple brandy. A few distilleries and many lodges sell brandy in bottles, and you can find it served in small glasses in the village's lodges. Many trekkers buy dried apples to carry on the trail and a bottle of brandy for the journey home. Apple pie and apple crumble also appear on menus in this part of the valley, and in many lodges it is the best dessert on the trek.

If you want to try the brandy, taste a small amount first and ask the price. A shot is for sipping, not for drinking quickly. Read our local drinks guide for the cautions about alcohol and altitude; Marpha is below 3,000 m, so the altitude concerns are lower than they were at Manang or Thorong Phedi, but dehydration and an early start still count.

Thakali people are known across Nepal for their hospitality and for lodge-keeping, and a Thakali meal, a dal bhat set served with local greens and pickles, is worth ordering if you see "Thakali khana" on a menu. If you reach Jomsom another way, our guide to the flight versus jeep explains the options. On the Upper Mustang trek, day 11 ends at Jomsom (2,720 m) before the return to Pokhara, so Marpha is a short side trip rather than part of that route.

Yak cheese in Langtang

The Langtang Valley is the place most associated with yak cheese on a trek. In our Langtang Valley plan, day 4 reaches Kyanjin Gompa at 3,870 m, where there is a small monastery, a cheese factory and several lodges. The route plan suggests visiting the cheese factory in the afternoon of your rest day, and it is worth doing: you can see how the milk is processed and buy fresh cheese, and most lodges offer cheese on toast, cheese momos or cheese with local bread. A second cheese factory stands at Sing Gompa (Chandanbari), at about 3,330 m, on the Gosaikunda route, and also sells cheese to visiting trekkers.

Be a little curious about the milk. A female yak is called a nak, and much of what is sold as "yak cheese" comes from naks or from crosses between yaks and cattle, which are called dzo or dzomo. Production is seasonal, tied to when the herds are on the high pastures, so the fresh cheese on offer in October may not be available in March. Ask the staff where the milk comes from and whether the cheese is fresh or aged. A hard, aged cheese is easy to carry; a soft fresh one should be eaten the same day.

Do not expect Swiss-style cheese everywhere. Many lodges in other regions advertise yak cheese on their menu but serve a processed or cow-milk product. If it matters to you, buy at the source.

Chhurpi: the cheese you chew for hours

Chhurpi is a hard, dried cheese made from buttermilk left after churning butter, and it is the most widely available cheese in the hills. It comes as white or yellowish blocks and long strings, and as hard as stone. Traditionally you suck or chew it very slowly, sometimes for hours, and people carry a piece on long walks. Dogs also get chhurpi as a chew. A fresh, soft version is cooked into soups and curries and eaten as part of a meal.

If you buy it, expect to pay by weight and bargain gently if it is not a fixed-price shop. Smell is strong, and it is hard on teeth. A small piece is plenty for a trek. It lasts for months without refrigeration, which is why trekkers carry it, but it can taste intense if you are not used to it.

Other local foods worth a lunch stop

• Tibetan bread and tsampa: in Khumbu, Langtang and Mustang, fried or steamed bread appears at breakfast, and tsampa, roasted barley flour, is a traditional staple mixed with tea.
• Thukpa and shyakpa: noodle soups and Sherpa stews, warming at altitude.
• Buckwheat pancakes and dhido: thick millet or buckwheat porridge eaten with vegetables, common in the hills.
• Apple orchards at Melamchigaon: on the Helambu trek, our route notes Melamchigaon, a Yolmo village of stone houses and mani walls with lodges and apple orchards, at about 2,540 m.
• Local honey and dried fruit: sold in markets and shops along the lower trail.
• Dal bhat: the standard meal and the best-value choice everywhere; see our dal bhat guide.

Buying and carrying specialties

Buy cheese and apples from the producer or the village shop, not from a roadside vendor with no clear source. Keep cheese cool and wrapped, and eat fresh cheese within a day. Hard cheese and dried apples travel well in a bag. Brandy is the awkward one: check your airline's and your home country's rules for alcohol, pack it in checked luggage wrapped well, and keep the receipt. Some countries restrict dairy and fresh produce, so check your destination's rules before you pack cheese.

Think also about weight, because everything carried up to a high village arrives by porter or mule, and prices rise with the altitude. Buying a small amount at the source, where you can see where it comes from, supports the families who produce it. Our teahouse prices guide explains why prices climb with altitude.

Planning a route around food

If you care about food, the combinations that work are the Annapurna Circuit for Thakali meals and Marpha apples, the Langtang Valley for fresh yak cheese at Kyanjin Gompa and the Gosaikunda route for the Sing Gompa cheese factory. The Helambu route offers a gentler introduction with apple orchards on a lower trail. All of these routes are described in our region guides, and the wider culture material sits in the culture and customs hub. For a first trek with good food and few logistics, the Langtang Valley partner page is a good place to look for a companion, and our trail etiquette guide covers the manners that go with a shared meal.