Survival Skills: Make Some Pemmican
Historic roots of Pemmican
This odd “survival” food can be best described as the strangest meatball you’ve ever eaten. Made from dried meat and rendered fat, among other ingredients, pemmican is an ancient forerunner to modern survival rations. While different cultures around the globe have made versions of this calorie-packed concoction, it’s the North American Indians who really put this food on the map. Commonly used as “fast food”, you can eat pemmican while walking (no need to stop traveling to prepare a meal). Traditionally rolled into serving-size balls, pemmican can also be pressed into other shapes. Even though it can be a stand-alone food, some cultures have also used it as greasy “bouillon cube” to create a base for soups and stews.
Ingredients
The time-honored pemmican recipe is a mixture of two or three main ingredients. The first is dried jerky that has been pounded into dust or slivers. This provides protein and bulk to the finished product. This jerky can be salted meat or meat that has been dried with little or no salt. Just keep in mind that salted meat will allow the pemmican to last longer. The second ingredient is rendered animal fat, which provides the high calories for this food. The fat also acts as the “glue” which holds everything together. And optional third ingredient is dried fruit or berries, as a supplemental source of carbohydrates, vitamins and fiber. You could grab these ingredients at your local grocery store to make a test batch at home, or you could whip up a batch in the field from game meat you have dried and fat you have rendered. It’s all up to you. Here’s a sample ingredient list.
• 8 ounces of lard
• 8 ounce packed cup of powdered jerky (pounded with rocks or chopped in a blender)
• 8 ounces of dried fruit (this could be any dried fruit, but berries are ideal)
Recipe
The recipe is super easy. The only tricky part comes when you’re actually blending of pemmican ingredients. You’ll have to pay careful attention to temperatures. If your animal fat is cold, it won’t blend easily with your other ingredients. And if you heat up the fat too much, the hot melted lard will cook your raw ingredients, which need to stay raw in order to prevent spoilage. In a pot, warm the lard to a soft pasty texture (below 100 F) while stirring it. Add your “dry ingredients” to the softened fat and stir until thoroughly blended (about two minutes of stirring). Some intrepid explorers have added small amounts of flour or other starch sources for extra carbohydrates, or added spices for more flavor. With or without additions, scoop the pemmican out by hand and compress it into round balls or flat cakes. Allow it to cool before storage.
Storage
You can wrap the pemmican pieces in wax paper (not too tight), in lieu of the rawhide containers of old. If the weather or your storage area is cold, this food can last for months. But when the weather turns warmer, eat it before the fat starts to take on a rancid smell.
Benefits
Ounce for ounce, pemmican is the highest calorie survival food. One little 2 ounce ball of pemmican has 336 calories (mostly from fat); 57 mg of cholesterol; 17 g of protein; 770 mg sodium and 20% of your daily requirement of iron.
Food storage is a survival skill that may be very important to your survival some day, and if you do it right, you can even save some money on your day-to-day groceries. Consider taking one of our Food Storage and Preservation classes and learn how to preserve many different kinds of food.
Written by Tim MacWelch First draft published in OFFGRID magazine