pemmican

Traditional method of drying meat for pemmican demonstrated at Calgary Stampede

Chokeberries (Aronia prunifolia), sometimes added to pemmican

Pemmican is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein used as a nutritious food. The word comes from the Cree word pimîhkân, which itself is derived from the word pimî, "fat, grease".^[1] It was invented by the native peoples of North America.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

The highest quality pemmican is made from lean meat and bone marrow fat; the pemmican buyers of the fur trade era had strict specifications.^{[citation needed]}

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. About 5 pounds of meat are required to make one pound of dried meat suitable for pemmican. Then it was pounded into very small pieces, almost powder-like in consistency, using stones. The pounded meat was mixed with melted fat in an approximate 1:1 ratio.^[2] 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.

Canadian fur trade

The voyageurs had no time to live off the land and had to carry their food with them. A north canoe with 6 men and 25 standard 90-pound packs required about 4 packs of food per 500 miles. Montreal-based canoemen could be supplied by sea or with locally grown food. Their main food was dried peas or beans, sea biscuit and salt pork. (Western canoemen called their Montreal-based fellows mangeurs de lard or 'pork-eaters'.) In the Great Lakes some maize and wild rice could be obtained locally. By the time trade reached the Winnipeg area the pemmican trade developed. Métis would go southwest onto the prairie in Red River carts, slaughter buffalo, convert it into pemmican and carry it north to trade at the North West Company posts. For these people on the edge of the prairie the pemmican trade was as important a source of trade goods as was the beaver trade for the Indians further north. This trade was a major factor in the emergence of a distinct Métis society. Packs of pemmican would be shipped north and stored at the major fur posts (Fort Alexander, Manitoba, Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, Fort Garry, Norway House and Edmonton House).

Dog pemmican

British polar 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 healthful diet for them, being too high in protein.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

The British Army Chief of Scouts,^{[clarification needed]} the American Frederick Russell Burnham, required pemmican to be carried by every scout.^[6]

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 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.^[7]

References in Literature

The children in the literary series Swallows and Amazons frequently refer to corned beef as pemmican as it seems more adventurous to them.

Science fiction story Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier, Del Rey : Ballantine, New York 1973, Hiero, a "Metz" living some 1000's of years in the future has a trail food, "pemeecan" which is a mixture of fat, maple sugar, and dried berries.

Harvey Randall, in the book Lucifer's Hammer makes pemmican in preparation for a cometary impact.

See also

• Agutak
• Forcemeat

References

Notes

External links

• Metis Nation in the pemmican trade
• Experiments in traditional pemmican preparation
• How to make pemmican