This ‘survival meat’ will last you up to 5 years! (2024)
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The recipe that has been lost through time is used by survivalists and backpackers around the nation, pemmican, which could come in handy in dire situations.
Created by Native American Tribes in the United States and Canada and adopted by European settlers and Fur Traders, this primitive protein bar is suited for long travel.
Easy to store, filling, long-lasting and nutritious; pemmican, dried ground meat with animal fat either from deer or elk and dried berries for sweetness and carbs, has a similar taste to beef jerky.
Whether you find yourself lost on a camping trip or at the end of the world this meat solution could be your key to survival.
Berries: Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, raisins, etc. any berries high in fiber and carbohydrates (sugars). Peanut butter and nuts are also beneficial to add.
2. Dehydration and preparation
Cut lead meats into strips, slice berries in half and place any fat into a separate mixing bowl on the side.
Place food into a dehydrator or oven for several hours until completely dried out.
3. Grind meat and berries
Once fully dried, use a meat processor, a meat grinder or your hands and grind them together until it is as fine as powder.
Boil the fat or lard in the mixing bowl until the chunks are crispy. Strain out the chunks until what’s left is melted fat juice.
If you like you, can add ingredients like coconut oil to the juice as well.
5. Mix all together
In a mixing bowl, add equal parts of the dried portion and liquid portion until clumped together and place on a baking sheet, repeat until all ingredients are mixed.
6. Cool Pemmican
Let your pemmican blocks sit and cool for several hours as they coagulate and harden.
7. Storage
Make sure to store your pemmican in a plastic bag in acool dark place (bug-out-bag, box, backpack, etc.), you could also vacuum seal the pemmican but it is not necessary.
To keep them from sticking together, wrap pemmican pieces in parchment paper.
Make sure to store your pemmican in a plastic bag in a cool dark place (bug-out-bag, box, backpack, etc.), you could also vacuum seal the pemmican but it is not necessary. To keep them from sticking together, wrap pemmican pieces in parchment paper. If stored properly, pemmican can last from 3 to 5 years.
At room temperature, pemmican can generally last from one to five years, but there are anecdotal stories of pemmican stored in cool cellars being safely consumed after a decade or more.
Pemmican's high fat content and lack of moisture allow it to last for years without refrigeration, a feature that historically made it an ideal food for long journeys. What about the other half of the pemmican vs jerky debate - does beef jerky go bad?
These strips of meat were cut thin, dried in the sun, then smoked, and finally ground into a fine powder before adding fat and dried berries. The mixture would be stored in sewn bags of animal hide for easy transport or trade. Some bison-hide bags would be filled with 90 pounds of pemmican.
We cut the meat (deer, squirrel, beef from the grocery store) into 1/8″ or thinner strips, douse it with some spices or hot sauce, place it on a drying rack in the sun for somewhere between eight to 16 hours, and voila-the best jerky you'll ever taste.
You don't want to survive on pemmican alone. Strenuous backpacking will lead to daily glycogen depletion, best re- plenished with carbohydrates. For low to moderate exertion of long duration, diets high in fat work relatively well, but require a prior period of adaptation.
Whole grains and legumes: Staples such as rice, quinoa, beans, and lentils, when stored in a cool, dry environment, can boast shelf lives that span several years.
So, to sum it up, pemmican can shelf for a long time because it is dried to remove moisture and then coated with fat to keep away oxygen. This preservation method allows pemmican to stay edible for several years, making it a reliable and long-lasting source of food.
I am surprised the beef flavor is not immediately present on taste, however, it builds the longer you chew it and all the flavors of beef come into focus, peppercorns are present and some berry taste as well. I am glad to have gotten the opportunity to taste what actual pemmican is like!
40 day winter: 12800 pemmican.50 day winter: 16000 pemmican. These are near-minimums, though, and you should shoot for higher. (I say near because a colonist can survive for five days without food.)
Is pemmican good for you? When made with grass-fed meat, tallow, and other fresh ingredients, yes! Because pemmican has high concentrations of lean meat and fat, it is considered a high-calorie, high-protein, and high-fat snack. When it isn't combined with fruit, pemmican is essentially no-carb.
Jerky, here defined as seasoned and dehydrated meat, is porous — when exposed to humidity, the dry jerky actually absorbs water vapor out of the air and begins to spoil. Pemmican, on the other hand, is not porous. The rendered fat in Pemmican seals the pores in the dry meat, so that humid air can't moisten the meat.
Make sure to store your pemmican in a plastic bag in a cool dark place (bug-out-bag, box, backpack, etc.), you could also vacuum seal the pemmican but it is not necessary. To keep them from sticking together, wrap pemmican pieces in parchment paper.
There are, however, a few disadvantages of preserving food through the process of sun drying as well. Firstly, temperature cannot be controlled and food may tend to get overheated at times. Plus the method of sun drying is a labour-intensive method which involves a lot of people in the process.
The drying action of the smoke tends to preserve the meat, though many of the chemicals present in wood smoke (e.g., formaldehyde and certain alcohols) are natural preservatives as well. Smoking is one of the oldest of food preservation methods, probably having arisen shortly after the development of cooking with fire.
Dried beef meat is a major source of essential fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins that are digestible and absorbable, thus could be a potential source of nutrients in complementary food formulations.
Jerky, here defined as seasoned and dehydrated meat, is porous — when exposed to humidity, the dry jerky actually absorbs water vapor out of the air and begins to spoil. Pemmican, on the other hand, is not porous. The rendered fat in Pemmican seals the pores in the dry meat, so that humid air can't moisten the meat.
Pemmican by its very purpose is non-perishable. Consisting of zero-water (or as little as can feasibly be constructed), it does not include any ingredients which can easily break down, spoil, or go bad with time. As a result, when made and stored properly, Pemmican can be confidently stored for up to a year.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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