Pemmican may be familiar to you if you’ve ever eaten meat or jerky bar made from finely chopped dried meat and possibly berries. Lean, dried meat—typically beef today, but bison, deer, and elk were also popular in the past—is ground into a powder and combined with an equal amount of hot, rendered fat, typically beef tallow, to make pemmican. Also included on occasion are crushed, dried berries. People can live solely off of pemmican for extended periods of time, using the protein for strength, the glucose when necessary, and the fat for energy.
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What Is Pemmican?
Typically made from elk, bison, caribou, deer, or moose, pemmican is a mixture of meat and animal fat. You must use dried meat that has been fat removed, similar to jerky. Keep the fat, though, just in case. In order to make pemmican, you will need to render the meat mixture down and then add the rendered fat back into the meat mixture.
Depending on your preferences, you might want to consider including unsalted nuts or dried berries in your pemmican recipe. For some fantastic pemmican recipes as inspiration, visit the Alderleaf Wilderness College website.
What Components Makeup Pemmican?
Combining dry, ground lean meat with animal fat creates pemmican. Beef and beef tallow are typically used to make pemmican. Additionally, game meat like elk, moose, or venison as well as the corresponding animal fat can be used. Additionally, honey or dried berries can occasionally be used.
Where Pemmican Comes From
The word “pemmican” comes from the Cree word “pimikan.” And according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Cree word means “manufactured grease.”
Pemmican has long been a staple food for many native Americans and indigenous tribes. It was traditionally made from dried buffalo meat that was then ground into powder. European explorers and fur traders used high-energy food as they traveled across North America.
Pemmican was a lifesaving resource well into the 19th century for native peoples as well as these men and is credited with keeping them from starving to death due to the harsh winters and unforgiving land. In fact, polar explorer Robert Peary wrote in his 1917 book The Secrets of Polar Travels that he packed pemmican with dried berries.
Pemmican, like hardtack (also known as survival bread), was lightweight and portable over long distances thanks to its density and long shelf life. It was therefore employed for hundreds of years to supply crews on extensive worldwide voyages. Trips to the North Pole and the interior of Africa were among them.
Where Does Pemmican Come From?
The word “pemmican” comes from the Cree word “pimikan.” And according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Cree word means “manufactured grease.”
Pemmican, which was historically made from dried buffalo meat that was then ground into powder, has long been a staple food for many native American tribes. As they traveled across North America, European explorers and traders adopted high-energy food.
Pemmican was a lifesaving resource for native peoples as well as these men who faced harsh winters and unforgiving land well into the 19th century and was credited with saving them from starvation. In fact, polar explorer Robert Peary wrote in his 1917 book The Secrets of Polar Travels that he packed pemmican with dried berries.
Pemmican, like hardtack (also known as survival bread), was simple to transport in canoes or in a pack over great distances because of its density and long shelf life. As a result, it was utilized for hundreds of years to provide crews on lengthy worldwide voyages. This included journeys to the North Pole and right through the middle of Africa.
Why Is Pemmican Remaining Common?
You might wonder if people still know how to make pemmican given that there are numerous other preservation techniques and refrigeration options available today. Yes! As homesteaders and preppers embrace the traditional way of life, it’s actually seeing a rise in popularity. or get ready for a survival scenario.
More people than ever are concerned about food shortages and the ability to feed their families. People are once again interested in learning about homesteading and survival techniques in order to secure their food supply.
They’re raising rabbits for meat, keeping chickens, and growing gardens to feed a family
They are gathering food from the wild and preserve it by pickling, smoking meats, or fermenting foods.
Additionally, they are thinking about the food products they used to stock their pantry’s shelf life.
Is Pemmican Healthy?
Preservatives, fillers, artificial flavors, and food coloring are not present in homemade pemmican. There are no additional food-like ingredients in this straightforward combination of whole foods.
Often called “the bread of the wilderness”, pemmican is a healthy high energy, high protein, emergency, and trail ration that can sustain diverse peoples in any environment.
If you are interested in learning more about this historically important food, the wars fought over it, and how it was traditionally used in daily life, Vilhjalmur Stefansson wrote Not By Bread Alone which contains a fascinating account of the pemmican trade and subsequent pemmican wars occurring at the height of the North American fur trade.
How To Make Pemmican?
Ingredients
- Try to use the leanest cuts of meat when making pemmican. Deer, elk, moose, and bison are among the best large game animals. But if necessary, use beef.
- Use any extra fat you have from the animal’s harvest if any. If not, speak with your neighborhood butcher and purchase some rendered beef or pork fat.
Instructions
- Slice the meat thinly, to a thickness of ¼ to 13 of an inch, to start.
- Any remaining fat should be removed before drying the meat in an oven, a dehydrator, in the sun, or by hanging it over a fire. The conventional method involves hanging the strips above a fire on thin branches or racks, but it can take up to 12 hours for them to fully dry.
- Powder the dried meat after it has finished drying completely. With modern conveniences, you can use a food processor or grinder to mill it into a fine powder. You can also repeatedly crush it between stones or use a mortar and pestle. Even though it requires more work, this step can be finished by hand. And if you are adding berries to your recipe, they need to be dried and pulverized as well.
- The fat should be prepared separately by bubbling it up until it stops in a pot at a low temperature.
- To get rid of any solids, strain it through a strainer.
- Add the rendered fat very gradually to the powdered meat in the mixing bowl or casserole dish along with any additional ingredients you’ve included. As you pour, the powder will absorb the fat, so make sure you evenly spread it throughout the mixture and it does not become too runny
- After the fat has been absorbed by the powder, leave the mixture alone for a few hours to cool and firm up. Squares or balls can be made out of the mixture to store it.
How To Store Pemmican?
Pemmican doesn’t need to be stored in a particular way other than being properly prepared and kept in an airtight container. For many years, it can be stored without risk at room temperature.
From the late 19th century until World War II, the US Army used pemmican as an MRE. Some of the original units are still around. A video test of a US Army emergency ration from 1906 reveals that it is a well-preserved, long-lasting food source.
As a part of our keto emergency food supply, I keep pemmican on a shelf in my pantry. Pemmican can be consumed with or without further preparation and is remarkably compact and shelf-stable whether it is bought from a store or made at home.
Pemmican can be added to hot bone broth to make a soup-like dish. Additionally, you can fry it in tallow or bacon fat. I frequently prepare a quick prep pemmican meal with sauerkraut, avocado, and steamed vegetables. Very little cleanup is required after assembly, which is very simple.
The Best Keto Camping Food
Pemmican is perfect for outdoor activities like backpacking, camping, and hiking. This food is completely nutritious and won’t melt, spill, or create a mess while you’re on the go. Pemmican neither spoils nor stinks. Additionally, it is lightweight!
This is a great food to bring with you when you are out with kids at a theme park, a nature preserve, or just running errands. Treat it like a protein bar. The avocado and cream cheese toppings are favorites among our kids. Both ingredients are lightweight and convenient to pack in a bag. Slice open an avocado, add crumbled pemmican to the pit’s opening, and stir everything together immediately.
Leave a suggestion in the comments if you can think of a food that is superior to this one.
Typically, canned fish, boiled eggs, salami or dry sausage, aged cheeses, nuts, and seeds are on the list of camping foods that are keto-friendly.
