This protein packed super food was invented by the natives of North America. Indian scouts as well as early western explorers used pemmican for when they had to travel a long ways away and needed something substantial and sturdy enough to last them for their long adventures. Pemmican is light, compact, high in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and if you know how to make pemmican just right it can last you for years or even decades.
Pemmican consists of lean, dried meat which is crushed to a powder and mixed with hot, rendered fat. Natives made pemmican with bison, deer, or elk but now the most commonly used meat is beef. You could even add crushed dried berries. One could subsist entirely on pemmican, drawing on the fat for energy, the protein for strength and vitamins for health. There are a few incidents in history of people living for months in good health only off of pemmican.
People who enjoy backpacking, camping, or even going on a never ending adventure on the roads, pemmican is definitely the meal for you. Luckily, the recipe isn’t too hard to create and is very rewarding the see all the effort you put in to make such a wonderful piece of history. Let’s get started!
You’ll need:
-4 cups lean meat or a pound (deer, beef, caribou or moose)
-3 cups blueberries (or other dried fruits)
-2 cups rendered fat (or 1/2 pounds)
-Optional – about 1 shot of honey (you can add nuts but they will lower the self life)
Acquire about a pound and a half of lean, grass-fed shoulder roast and let that firm up in the freezer so you can slice it thin. Then add salt and pepper. Set the oven to the lowest possible temperature, about 150 degrees, and put the strips of meat directly onto the rack. Crack the oven door to prevent moisture buildup. At this point, you can also put a handful of frozen wild blueberries on a small oven pan to dry out with the meat. Let the meat dry out for about fifteen hours, or until it becomes crispy. Next, toss the meat into the food processor until it becomes a powder. Do the same with the blueberries. Before processors came around, people had to beat it to a powder with a rock!
For the fat portion of pemmican, you can use tallow, which is rendered beef, mutton fat, or lard which is rendered pork fat. Cut up your fat in small pieces and place the fat into a crock pot. Set the crock pot on low heat and remove it only after it becomes completely liquid. Use a strainer to avoid all the crispy bits. All you need is the pure, liquid fat.
Mix the meat and berry powder together, then slowly add the hot liquid fat. Pour just enough so that the fat soaks into the powder but be sure to pour it in slowly.
Let that firm up, then cut it into squares or roll it into a ball. If done and stored correctly it can last for decades. Wrap these “pemmican balls” in wax paper and store them in a ziplock bag in a cool, dark place.
Back in the 1800, the Metis, which is one of the recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada, would go southwest onto the prairie, slaughter buffalo, convert it into pemmican and carry it north to trade at the North West Company posts. For these people on the edge of the prairie the pemmican trade was as important a source of trade goods as was the fur trade for the Indians further north. This is because for a serious journey, almost all foods would have been too heavy to carry. There you have it! Good luck and have fun in creating your ultimate super food.
by CODY TM
Sources: Ask A Prepper
