Pemmican comes made of dried meat and is a protein and energy rich food substance made from dried, powdered meat.

One of its best attributes is that it is easy to make, and you can do it with a minimal amount of supplies.

You’ll need:

4 cups lean meat or a pound (deer, beef, caribou or moose)

3 cups blueberries (or other dried fruits)

2 cups rendered fat (or 1/2 pounds)

Optional – about 1 shot of honey (you can add nuts but they will lower the self life)

Add salt and pepper. Set the oven to the lowest possible temperature (around 150 degrees) and put the strips of meat directly onto the rack. Crack the oven door to prevent moisture buildup.

At this point, you can also put a handful of frozen wild blueberries on a small oven pan to dry out with the meat.

Let the meat dry out for about fifteen hours, or until it is crispy. Toss it in the food processor until it becomes a powder. Do the same with the blueberries. In the old days they’d pound it with a rock to turn it into a “powder”.

For the fat portion of pemmican, you can use tallow (rendered beef or mutton fat) or lard (rendered pork fat). Cut up your fat in small pieces and place the fat into the crockpot. Set the crock pot on low heat and remove it only after it becomes completely liquid. Use a strainer to avoid all the crispy bits; you just want the pure, liquid fat.

Mix the meat and berry powder together, then slowly add the hot liquid fat. Pour just enough so that the fat soaks into the powder – slowly.

Let it firm up, then cut it into squares or roll it into a ball.

Wrap these “pemmican balls” in wax paper and store them in a ziplock bag in a cool, dark place.

You can literally store Pemmican for decades if done correctly and in a bug-out moment or survival situation, it is bar none the lightest, most energy and protein rich food you can take with you.

To learn more about the history of Pemmican or to see other recipes for it, please visit Ask A Prepper.

source: Ask A Prepper