How to Make Pemmican

Pemmican is a traditional high-calorie trail food made from dried meat, rendered fat, and optional berries. Used for centuries by Indigenous peoples, pemmican is lightweight, shelf-stable, and ideal for backpacking, paleo diets, and rewilding.When I first learned how to make Pemmican it changed my backpacking forever.

There was this mysterious thing called Native American Pemmican that I kept hearing rumors about and eventually things started showing up on the internet about it’s history and how to make it. Pemmican is reported to be the primary staple for many of the tribes and especially the Plains Indians. Think about it how fresh meat would be available during a hunt but not every day was a hunt. How would they preserve their meat without a refridgerator? So because of what I know about the health of these strong and proud people, I had an immediate trust in the power of pemmican to sustain energy and keep my body robust and ready for the rough and tumble lifestyle of my rewilder lifestyle.

I didn’t waste any time figuring it out and started taking it on the trail with me. This ketogenic whole food was reported to have every piece of nutrition to keep you alive and well, and even thrive. It was a little weird at first, kind of dry and bland, but I learned to tweak the recipe until I got something that was beyond anything I have ever taken on the trail. This food has even passed the crowd pleaser test. I have given it to friends completely unfamiliar with paleo and they loved it.

David Thompson in 1810, described pemmican in detail: “…dried provisions made of the meat and fat of the bison under the name of pemmican, a wholesome, well tasted nutritious food, upon which all persons engaged in the fur trade mostly depend for their subsistence during the open season; it is made of the lean and fleshy parts of the bison dried, smoked and pounded fine: in this state it is called beat meat: the fat of the bison is of two qualities, called hard and soft;…the latter…when carefully melted resembles butter in softness and sweetness.

Pemmican for backpacking is almost too good to be true. It has a practically infinite shelf life, weighs very little, tastes delicious, and doesn’t even require cooking. Pemmican is the ultimate paleo energy or meal bar. No amount of civilization can improve what was already perfect. My next step is to make food wraps made from beeswax and cloth, so I can avoid plastic altogether in my camping.

Each gram, if made with a 50-50 fat/lean mixture, is 6.5 calories. So each pound is 2944 calories. You’d probably need 7-10 lbs for a 7 day trip depending on your body mass and how hard you were pushing. This would be more than enough calories and contains everything you need to keep moving, and you can bonus supplement with whatever.

Pemmican is superior to jerky. Pemmican is jerky (dried meat) which is then pulverized and mixed with rendered tallow. You can add other ingredients as well. My favorite all round recipe is:

1 part pulverized meat

1 part tallow

1 part dried berry powder

to that I also add salt

There are many varieties of pemmican. You need a Food Dehydrator (the best kind is the Excaliber) and a Vitamix Juicer. If you want to do it the traditional way, you would pulverize it by placing in a cloth or skin bag and pounding with a wooden mallet.

You can use either ground meat or solid meat that you slice. When using solid meat, get the cheaper cuts but also one’s which are less fatty. Although we definitely like the fat, the fat is best added after the lean meat is dried and pulverized. This will make the pemmican with the best shelf life.

(Ground Meat)

1–Place raw ground meat in a mixing bowl.

2–Spread out on the drying screen. Use a fork to gently press down as flat as you can but no more than 1/2 inch.

(Solid Meat)

1–Slice meat in thin slices no more than 1/4 – 1/2″ thick.

2–Place on drying rack so they aren’t touching each other.

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3–Turn on dryer at lowest temperature setting (95) and dry for about 15 hours or until meat is brittle

4–Place pieces in Vitamix Blender and pulverize. Don’t let it get too hot. Push down with the mallet when needed. The blender should be about 1/2 full of the dry pieces before blending. There needs to be enough jerky to push itself down, and not too much which might overload the blender capacity.

5–Slow cook tallow until it melts, then let it cool to just above room temperature.

You can buy excellent grass-fed rendered tallow (beef fat) at a good health food store or online. To do it yourself, render the tallow by cooking on low heat until liquid. Strain out the solid pieces, or simply pour the liquid and leave the solid pieces at the bottom of the pan.

6–Add pulverized meat and berries to mixing bowl and mix. Also add salt if desired.

7–Make an indentation in the middle of the pulverized ingredients. To that gently pour the liquid tallow. Then slowly mix into the mixture.

8–While still warm but not hot, shape into palm sized patties. Wrap each one in a waxed paper. When they are completely cooled down, put these into a glass or plastic container or for travel, in a ziplock bag. Store in airtight glass or plastic containers.

9–Enjoy!

References:

http://www.traditionaltx.us/images/PEMMICAN.pdf

You can find plans for his $10 dehydrator (dead simple to make and use) here:

http://www.traditionaltx.us/images/JerkyDrierInstructions.pdf