Thanks for contributing this info, TBoneMitch!

Last night I took from my freezer dried berries (blueberries, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, and red raspberries) that I dehydrated a couple years ago. They were very hard (frozen). I put them in my old coffee grinder and ground them down to fine powder. I continued grinding my dried bison (that I dried using a dehydrator a couple years ago... it was the round, which I was told made the best jerky/pemmican). I then mixed all of this stuff together and continued grinding into a very fine powder. The native americans called this "beat meat", and I call mine "sweet beat meat", cuz with those mixed berries in there it makes the whole lot (about 8 - 10 cups) smell SO GOOD!!! It is now the consistency of white flour!... or the finest espresso!

While grinding and mixing this wonderful "sweet beat meat", I continued rendering the fat. After nearly 6 or 7 hours it seemed as though nothing more was going to happen. Mind you, this stuff never smoked or burned, but I was wondering if it needed to go that long (it was only a pound of fat) or if there is any advantage/disadvantage to doing it this long (once again, I never saw it bubble or anything, and am still wondering about getting out all the moisture from the liquid). I read on the internet that the longest shelf life for pemmican is if you pulverize meat and berries into a powder, and if you "double render" the fat, to remove all the moisture. It is moisture that causes the pemmican to go bad over time. I had set my sights on making the most "authentic", long lasting pemmican, and so will probably avoid the trail mix on this first batch. I have read on the internet recipes that include all sorts of nuts, honey, etc. .... but, I have also read about the most traditional containing only dried meat and berries, ground to a fine powder (or I guess they were beaten with rocks down to that fine powder!)

Tonight I plan to mix some of this powder with some "liquid gold", as I call it, (rendered bison back fat), and stir it up and then spread it into a rectangular glass baking dish, using wax paper to press it down. Should I put wax paper into the dish first, and sandwich this pemmican between two sheets of wax paper, or what? Anyone, please let me know. I will only be trying a small amount, cuz I don't want to waste this powdered meat (it took SO long to get it to that state!). How much should I use (in other words, how thick should the spread be?). And, what is the "proper" ratio of fat to meat/berry mix?

Thanks to all who are contributing to this thread. This will be a good source for anyone interested in making this very paleo food!

Since it is "The" pemmican thread,i'll post it here !

I'm actually trying to do some with chest parts of beef..They are in the oven since 1h15 and can't wait !

The oven is set at the minimum (just a bit before 200F),a hole at one of the round is open and the door is opened just one bit to let some air go out..I've cut the piece around 1/8 inch thin or just 1/4 for the thickest and put them of a cookies grill with a cookie plate just under .

Next time,i'll ask to the butcher to cut it thin with his meat slicer or will follow to the advice to froze a bit the meat for a easier cutting .

The pieces seem to already begin to dry somewhat,he he ! I didn't made too much since it is only a small test at drying meat,not much more than 200 grams of fresh meat,so i guess i'll get just 50grams of dry meat out of it..

Will post later for the results !

If you have an old coffee grinder, you can pulverize this dry meat into a fine powder... dry some berries first so you can pulverize them as well, and when you mix it all together is smells heavenly! I have about 10 cups of this very fine powder "sweet beat meat"... jut waiting for the bone to come in, so I can get bison bone marrow fat for the pemmican! Can't wait!

We are at 4 hours of drying,so far,the meat is still somewhat red but seem to be dry..the meat can still be bend without breacking,so i guess it is not dryed enough...

EDIT : 7 hours of drying,all the pieces are brown,no more red..All seem crispy without cracking..

Have stopped the oven and tasted a small chunck without swallowing..i feel uneasy and the taste is a bit weird,my borther told me it tasted like cardboard ..

EDIT 2 : Well,from my younger brother who like to eat jerky,my dryed meat seem to be too dryed..maybe even cooked (no wonder since it is a oven that i'm using).. The dried meat smell a bit funny..

I had the EXACT same thing happen to me... in fact, if you read back through this thread, I think I (and some others) reported this experience. I then went out and got a dehydrator. I was able to dry meat and 5 different kinds of berries using it (boy, my kitchen smelled like HEAVEN with all those different berries drying over the course of 2 or 3 days!). I don't remember what I did with that meat from the oven... but, it was round steak from the local butcher at the grocery store (factory farmed cow meat). I ended up getting some from bison, from the processor I use to butcher and process bison. I sliced that stuff real thin (when it was partially frozen) and put it on the dehydrator. It came out wonderful. That is what is ground down to powder (more fine than powdered sugar) in my freezer right now (with all those wonderful berries ground into it too). That mix is just waiting for bison leg bones! As I recall, the oven method cooked my meat, as you report. It is because it is impossible to get the oven at a low enough temperature. You should try and find a dehydrator. They are worth it, and you will need one to dry an assortment of berries for pemmican. If you plan to make pemmican a lot, you will need a dehydrator!

Thx a lot for your help ..

Yeah,i feel that a dehydrator would be best..i tryed to make a small batch to see if i like pemmican before investing some hundred canadian dollars !

Going outside and pay 300-350$CA for a dehydrator i'm not sure i will use at full capacity scare me a bit ..

I'll be perfectly honest..the health side of pemmican is great,but was only discovered after match : i want to make pemmican because i want to build a long lasting food emergency supply..since i'm all for "eat what you store,store what you eat" , i want to make LOT of it..enough to last me 3 months if i need to just eat pemmican !

Without being the "run for the hills" hardcore survivalist,i'm one who follow the " Hope for the best,prepare for the worst" moto ..another fun side of having pemmican on hand is that you can decide to go do some camping for 2 weeks without much preperations outers than taking your lightweight camping (aka,bug out kit) gear and take 5 kg of pemmican out of the pantry !

In fact,i just need to be totally convinced to buy a dehydrator with goods reasons others than just making pemmican ..

hey paleodeano did u make it yet?
Jaybird said the second time she made it she added enough fat to "moisten the ground up meat and berries".

I have just bought Neanderthin so I have all of this to go. My uncle hunts and does all the butchering himself, so I do have access to wild meat. I think it is only deer though. I like venison, but I'd like to try Bison (whatever that is), although I don't think they are native to the lil' G.British Island I inhabit.

Does anybody wanna take a picture and post it of their pammican? I'd love to see what it looks like. Do u just slice bits off and eat it like that, like chorizo sausage or do u need to cook it again?

There is a recipe for pemmican in Nourishing Traditions Page 525 of the 2nd edition.

I am waiting on one of my meat processors to get in some bison to butcher. He is going to save me the kidney suet (for making more tallow), and the large leg bones (so I can crack them open and get the bone marrow out - that is the best fat for pemmican). Bison is sometimes (incorrectly) called Buffalo. There were millions and millions of them roaming all over the north american continent, until us white folk dropped in to set up permanent housing. Species extinction and genocide followed rather quickly! Thank god they (barely) saved the bison, and have been bringing it back slowly over the last few decades. There are lots of bison farms around where I live. I would like to see the whole western half of Kansas turned back over to wild herds! Right now it is only being used by large corporations to grow a bunch of wheat!

Can someone tell me how dryed beef should smell !?

My bison round that I dried in the dehydrator smelled rather plain. I dried it totally plain, not like people make jerky. It was bland smelling and tasting. BUT, when I ground it down to a super fine powder using a coffee grinder, AND when I ground all the different dried berries down to fine powder, and then mixed all this together... it smells WONDERFUL! I cannot WAIT to get that bison bone marrow to complete this pemmican. I will have quite a bit of it, but want to make sure I do it as correctly as I can. Don't want any of this work to go to waste!

BTW, the cow meat I dried on cookie sheets in the oven smelled a little burned and I ended up getting rid of it. It wasn't that much. I now have about 10-12 cups of finely powdered bison meat/berries. How much pemmican will this make?... and how do I make it, so it will turn out really good? Please let me hear suggestions! THANKS! I have never even seen pemmican before!

So, I ventured to make some pemmican two weeks ago. I made beef pemmican and I made some chicken/coconut oil pemmican.

I did it in the oven on warm....it is probably about 150 degrees at that setting and I also kept the door open about a foot wide opening. I checked it very often and different pieces were done at different times...some got eaten along the way I used ground meat....i just can't afford more expensive cuts at this point. Good quality grass fed from an Amish farm though. And the chicken was organic.

I buy tallow from the farmer as well, already rendered. So it was a simple process of just melting the tallow and adding it. I took the jerky and processed in my food processor, added small amount of dried blueberries and cranberries, and small amount of raw honey (melted with the tallow). For the chicken I did the same, mixed with coconut oil instead of tallow. What I did is I divided it up into paper muffin cups and stuck it in the freezer to harden up quickly. I think next time I will wrap it up in wax paper protien bar style.

PaleoDeano....that sounds awesome with the bison marrow. Let us know how that is. I've yet to use marrow.

Gemmafafen, yes add enough to moisten it well so that will it hardens it will hold together well. Once batch I made I didnt add enough and it fell apart easily when I ate it. If you add enough it holds together well.

Okay...so I will make some more pemmican soon. I am in love with the stuff. It just goes fast...when I have it it's all I want to eat. I will take pictures this time too and post them.

Has anyone tried the US Wellness Meats pemmican? It's sort of expensive, but made with grass-fed beef and grass-fed tallow and you can get it either with or without cherries and honey added. It comes in 2.5lb "tubs" for around $35, but that does last awhile and it sure saves a lot of time in the kitchen.

How do you eat pemmican? Like beef jerkey? Is it tough to chew? I've got TMJ which was made hugely worse by chewing on jerkey. Ow!

You eat pemmican with a spoon if you get it in the tubs. It melts in your mouth so no sore jaws.