how to make pemmican - the ultimate survival food

Cassie, Did you ever make any? I am just getting ready to make some large batches as I have an unexpected side of beef getting delivered soon and not enough freezer room for it. Any idea of the recipe used to make the stuff in the photo? Mine is always brown, but really tasty and filling nonetheless. Would be nice to have a few varieties of added ingredients to change it up a bit.

This is the first time I've seen anything like this. I didn't even know it existed. It's true that it doesn't look tasty at all, but just by looking at the ingredients I can say it'd be delicious. Don't know if I'll be able to make it, but I'll definitely try it out!

My modest effort at making pemmican. It would make a great emergency food. I ate it all over a six month period.

http://www.durgan.org/2015/October%202015/13%20October%202015%20Pemmican/HTML/ 13 October 2015 Pemmican
Pemmican was made from, eye of round beef, mixed vegetables, nixtamalized Indian corn, concord grapes, and cranberries. The vegetables, grapes, and cranberries were dehydrated from previously canned juice. When dehydrated and very dry all the ingredients were made into small pieces in the blender. A pound of unsalted butter was made into ghee and mixed with all the ingredients. The mixture was made into serving sized balls and set side to harden somewhat, then will be individually vacuum packed for storage at room temperature. A teaspoon of ascorbic acid powder was added to the dry ingredients to enhance the vitamin C content.

http://www.durgan.org/2015/October%202015/10%20October%202015%20Pemmican/HTML/ 10 October 2015 Pemmican
Pemmican was made from eye of round beef, Natto soy beans, blueberry, cranberry and suet. The ingredients were dehydrated until very dry, beat into powder in the blender, mixed with the suet, made into one serving balls and set to harden for twelve hours, then vacuum packed in individual packages for storage at room temperature. The ingredients can be almost anything available. Base is the meat, and suet. The mixture has a most pleasant taste and could been enhanced by the addition of various desirable spices.


http://www.durgan.org/2015/October%202015/8%20October%202015%20Pemmican/HTML/ 8 October 2015 Pemmican
First attempt at making pemmican. Ingredients are eye of round beef, blueberries, cranberries, gruel, saturated with rendered beef fat. All the ingredients were dehydrated and beat into a powder in the blender. They were mixed thoroughly and saturated with rendered suet or fat, and made into bite sized balls. The balls were wrapped in clear plastic and stored in a closed container for storage at room temperature. The finished product is tasty and has many calories. Pictures depict the simple process.

 Another great thread,I like the idea of there being folks who know about nutrition posting. So i picked up some great info from that aspect. I have read almost every book ever written about arctic and ant arctic exploration. Some were quoted as saying. "it was the most satisfying foods" ....I guess he meant under those conditions?  Watched a video on making apple butter as well this AM.....Larry

I tried making pemmican with my own lamb and dried autumnberries, but I could never get my meat to dehydrate and then crush to any sort of light enough texture for this to work.   It was more like gritty sand, sadly.    As far as ketosis,  meat, fat, and dried berries would be right in line with that,  not sure why there was any question there.   Even nuts added would be keto in the right proportions.   Maybe I missed something in the reading , like corn or potatoes or something being added.

Cassie Langstraat wrote:So I came across this article about "the ultimate survival food" so I was intrigued. I will admit I had never heard of pemmican.. Also it's not the prettiest looking treat I've ever seen.



BUT here you can read about all of the reasons it's cool and how to actually make it.  

A few:

- light, compact, high in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and if done properly can last anywhere from a few years (decades) up to a lifetime without refrigeration

- you could subsist entirely on pemmican, drawing on the fat for energy, the protein for strength and vitamins for health.


oh yeah, you're probably wondering what it is eh?

lean, dried meat which is crushed to a powder and mixed with hot, rendered fat. crushed, dried berries can be added as well, unsalted nuts, and a bit of honey


anyway, I obviously am curious if I am the only one who had no idea about pemmican and if anyone else here has made it, and if it tastes alright. haha!

I make and use pemmican. It is NOT MADE WITH REGULAR FAT... it is made from the fat that accumulates on organs... I don't know why but it is DIFFERENT. It has a much higher melting point and doesn't go rancid like other fats from the same animal. The meat needs to be absolutely lean. The only COMMERCIALLY available lean meat is heart meat. It happens to be cheep as well. Barry's that are moist will mold where exposed to air. Triditionaly Barry's were only 10%of the mix if used at all I double that. I use dried goji berries and run it through a blender to get a texture like grits. I slice the heart meat thin and trim the fat OFF of it. (Save it as it is the before mentioned organ fat) then dry it in the oven. Then run it through the blender to the same consistency. Mix a 20-80 blend and melt the Oregon fat. Add and stir the fat in until it stops soaking it up. Then add a bit more to make it stick. I use it when bike touring and thru-hiking. It is nasty by its self but AWESOME in soup or ramen. It goes well IN THINGS.but for survival food it can't be beat. A 1 oz. Piece is enough to keep you going for several hours. If long term storage is not a goal(less than 6 months) you can use any fat and loosen up on the 80-20 mix. I all so add salt and spices to the meat in the drying process.  The goji berys are a (super food) if one was BRAVE you might try a mix of berys and spirolina ... I AM NOT THAT BRAVE