Pemmican is a concentrated mixture of
fat and
protein used as a nutritious food. The word comes from the
Cree word
pimîhkân, "pemmican", which itself is derived from the word
pimî, "fat, grease". It was invented by the
native peoples of North America. It was widely adopted as a high-
energy food by Europeans involved in the
fur trade and later by
Arctic and
Antarctic explorers, such as
Robert Falcon Scott and
Roald Amundsen. Pemmican was among the supplies taken by the
Burke and Wills expedition across central
Australia. It is believed that the pemmican went bad and was not eaten, contributing to
scurvy and death among members of the expedition, which became a disaster. Properly prepared and packaged, pemmican can be stored for long periods of time.
The specific ingredients used were usually whatever was available; the meat was often bison, moose, elk, or deer. Fruits such as cranberries and saskatoon berries were sometimes added. Cherries, currants, chokeberries and blueberries were also used, but almost exclusively in ceremonial and wedding pemmican.
The highest quality pemmican is made from lean meat and bone marrow fat; the pemmican buyers of the fur trade era had strict specifications .
Traditional preparation
Traditionally, pemmican was prepared from the lean meat of large game such as
buffalo,
elk or
deer. The meat was cut in thin slices and dried over a slow fire, or in the hot sun until it was hard and brittle. Then it was pounded into very small pieces, almost powder-like in consistency, using stones. The pounded meat was mixed with melted fat with a ratio of approximately 50% pounded meat and 50% melted fat. In some cases, dried fruits such as
saskatoon berries,
cranberries,
blueberries, or
choke cherries were pounded into powder and then added to the meat/fat mixture. The resulting mixture was then packed into rawhide pouches for storage.
Dog pemmican
British Arctic expeditions fed a type of pemmican to their dogs as "sledging rations". Called "
Bovril pemmican" or simply "dog pemmican", it was a beef product consisting of 2/3 protein and 1/3 fat, without carbohydrate. It was later ascertained that although the dogs survived on it, this was not a healthy diet for them, being too high in protein.
Members of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 expedition to the Antarctic resorted to eating dog pemmican when they were stranded on ice for the winter.
Boer War
In Africa,
biltong was commonly used in all of its forms. During the
Second Boer War (1899-1902), British troops were given an
iron ration made of four ounces of pemmican and four ounces of chocolate and sugar. The pemmican would keep in perfect condition for decades, even in sacks worn smooth by transportation. It was considered much superior to biltong. This iron ration was prepared in two small tins (soldered together) which were fastened inside the soldiers' belts. It was the last ration pulled and it was pulled only when ordered by the commanding officer. A man could march on this for 36 hours before he began to drop from hunger.
Scouting
The British Army Chief of Scouts, the American
Frederick Russell Burnham, made pemmican a mandatory item to be carried by every scout.
Modern producers
US Wellness Meats in Missouri currently sells pemmican in bar and bulk form. Their pemmican contains 45% tallow and 55% dried jerky.
Native American Natural Foods, an Oglala Lakota business in Kyle, South Dakota manufactures and distributes the Tanka Bar – based upon traditional wasna (pemmican). It is made from a combination of buffalo meat and cranberries with a herbal-based preservative.
Canawa is the Canadian maker of pemmican that states that they use Vilhjalmur Stefansson's traditional jerk to tallow formulations of 1:1.
Modern commercial usage
The brand name
Pemmican currently refers to at least two unrelated food products marketed primarily for outdoor enthusiasts in Canada and the United States.
A brand of beef jerky, based in Taylor, Michigan and owned by Marfood USA, Inc..
High-energy food bars sold under the brand names
MealPack and
Bear Valley Pemmican by Intermountain Trading Co. Ltd. in
Albany, California. These bars are baked from malted corn and barley (with no meat). Bear Valley Foods was threatened with a lawsuit over the use of the
Pemmican name, by ConAgra; however, they were ultimately allowed to keep the name.
See also
Agutak
Forcemeat
References
;Notes
External links
Metis Nation in the pemmican trade
Experiments in traditional pemmican preparation
How to make pemmican
Category:Native American cuisine
Category:Dried meat
Category:Algonquian loanwords
Category:Aboriginal cuisine in Canada
