So I've decided I want to give making pemmican a try. On paper it seems like the ideal food for a high-output, long-duration trip (maybe not so much canoe-tripping, but it still seems relevant given it was a staple of the voyageur diet). It's shelf-stable, no-cook, high calorie, and high protein.

Anyone else take a crack at this already?

I wanted to try and come up with a recipe that incorporates something to add some vitamins and fiber if I can, but want to keep it as close to authentic as possible. Thinking of trying dried venison meat and tallow as a base and dried cranberries for vitamin c (home-dried so not full of sugar like the ones in the store) and dried raspberries (for the fiber). Undecided on whether or not to add honey (a lot of recipes I found call for it, but most of the "authentic" recipes don't).

I tried making pemmican once and I felt it ended up tasting a little like dog food. I think adding honey would have helped with the flavor a little, but I wasn't impressed enough to try again. There are tastier ways to get protein, for example, some sort of jerky.

These days I usually make Hudson Bay Bread. My recipe and others or posted somewhere in the recipes section.

Chicagored: "I tried making pemmican once and I felt it ended up tasting a little like dog food. I think adding honey would have helped with the flavor a little, but I wasn't impressed enough to try again. There are tastier ways to get protein, for example, some sort of jerky.


These days I usually make Hudson Bay Bread. My recipe and others or posted somewhere in the recipes section."

For me jerky just doesn't have a high enough calorie count by weight to consider for more high output activities. Have had Hudson Bay bread too but prefer my homemade granola in that case. Was hoping the pemmican would fit in somewhere in between (i.e. high calorie yield, but not so sweet and with a decent amount of protein).

My first batch turned out ok, taste is good but the freeze-dried berries made for a very odd texture. Going to try again without the berries...

Haven't done it yet, but have several pounds(wet) dried venison with good intentions. What little I've researched says that berries will shorten shelf life. I don't think this would be an issue if it tastes good.

Just wanted to comment about adding venison tallow. I tried adding it to my ground venison once and found that it left a greasy film on the roof of my mouth after I finish eating . Won't do that again.

You've got me thinking about pemmican, so I dug into my recipe file and found this variation which I may try this week:

1c jerky or maybe dehydrated hamburger
1c dried berries
1 c sunflower seeds or nuts
1/4 c peanut butter
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Grind up the first three ingredients and stir in the rest.

wingnut: "Just wanted to comment about adding venison tallow. I tried adding it to my ground venison once and found that it left a greasy film on the roof of my mouth after I finish eating . Won't do that again. "

Speaking in generalities, deer tallow is terrible for eating, I think you can use it for tanning hides. I bet bear fat would be great for this.

us wellness meats.com sell some very tasty pemmican.