Middle Earth Ranger Forum

A Return To The Old Paths: How To Make Pemmican Like The Native Americans

http://www.bioprepper.com/2016/05/16/re ... americans/

That looks like an interesting recipe. Give it a shot! Let us know your results.

I gave up on pemmican cuz it basically tastes nasty now matter how you make it. My go-to trail food is fruitcake. It's high calorie, packs easy and I for one like the taste.

Oh, eating pemmican is like eating candles. Ugh.

That said, I've seen it used as a basis for a stew or hash: I've never tried it, but could imagine it works alright.

I don't eat it.

To be fair, if you make the kind with berries, it is pretty much a complete food (protein, fat, carbs) though.

I put this up because it fits with the level of technology in ME--at least for men.

Fruit cake is an interesting take. Not lembas, but no doubt better tasting than pemmican.

Rysgil wrote:I gave up on pemmican cuz it basically tastes nasty now matter how you make it. My go-to trail food is fruitcake. It's high calorie, packs easy and I for one like the taste.

Liking the taste is an important consideration! It doesn't matter how nutritious/complete/super a trail food is if you can't bring yourself to eat it.

I always viewed it as a kind of emergency food for long term storage. I don't think that the Indians would eat it by choice either.

However, if your hungry, you'll eat it.

It would keep you alive and able to function in the wilderness fairly well.

Harper wrote:However, if your hungry, you'll eat it.

It's amazing how much your sense of taste changes when you're wet, cold, tired, and hungry.

MOAR FAT! MOAR CARBS!

Harper wrote:I always viewed it as a kind of emergency food for long term storage. I don't think that the Indians would eat it by choice either.

However, if your hungry, you'll eat it.

It would keep you alive and able to function in the wilderness fairly well.

Oh, I don't doubt that if it were a choice between starving and eating something distasteful, anyone would eat it!

For a jaunt in the woods/short backpacking trip, though, you have a choice in what you carry and what you eat. If you only bring things you know you don't want to eat, you may wait longer to eat it. Doing that provides more opportunity for your blood sugar to drop (which I've had happen fast while hiking) which can lead to shakes, fatigue, not quite thinking right, etc, which makes it more likely that you're going to make a mistake and hurt yourself.

By all means, bring pemmican with you as a back-up, but I figured I'd mention flavor as a consideration.

This is a recipe from the Women of the Fur Trade website. I've had it and it's a little better than most.

Pemmican:

This is my Favorite recipe for Pemmican.
Most others are barely
palatable.

My family receipt for pemmican comes from my Cherokee
Great,Great Grandma and it does not have any extra animal
fat, so it's not so much a heart danger. Everyone seems to
like it and it's easy to make .I make my own jerk and dried
fruit/veggies so I mix up batches for events as needed...

Pound together 1/2 pound each of the following:

jerk meat (venison or buffalo)
parched corn
dried cranberries
dried apples
dried squash
sunflower seeds

The oil in the sunflower seeds acts like suet and binds the
mixture together slightly. It's great as is by the handful,
washed down with water, but it makes a good stew base
with tomatoes, onions and beans when you have a chance
to cook.
enjoy!

My batch this winter was venison, beef tallow, and cranberries, but I added strawberries, blueberries, cherries and apple (all dried of course) and a few tablespoons of honey, which helps.
I find that my pemmican really hits the spot when I eat it after several miles on the trail, or at the top of a high, steep climb. After yardwork and light exercise? Not so much.
Like the old adage says, "Hunger is the best seasoning"!

I made some pemmican when I was a kid. It was delicious.
My mother was saving suet (bacon fat basically) to feed the birds over the winter. I chopped up some store-bought jerky and mixed them together. I don't remember what kind of berries I used, but they sweetened the pemmican nicely.