Pemmican is a traditional food of the native peoples of North America. It is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein, and was adopted as a high-energy food by explorers and those involved in the fur trade in the early 20th century. Traditionally, the meat (typically bison, moose, elk, or deer) was cut in thin slices and dried over a slow fire or in the hot sun until it was hard and brittle. It was pounded nearly into a powder using stones and mixed with melted fat. Sometimes dried fruits, typically berries, were also pounded into a powder and added to the mixture. Traditionally packed into rawhide pouches for storage, pemmican keeps indefinitely.
For the Paleo community, pemmican is a unique opportunity to create a meal replacement. Think of this as the caveman’s protein bar. A perfect post-workout meal or snack on the go, pemmican provides concentrated protein and calories in a way that is hard to find in the absence of grains, legumes and dairy. It’s portability also makes it a great way for endurance athletes to replenish protein and glucose while training (you may want to consume both pemmican and a glucose-rich juice or fresh fruit for the added glucose during training).
My approach to pemmican wasn’t traditional. My approach was to use the idea of pemmican to create something that was more like a meal-replacement bar (something I could eat when short on time or wolf down quickly after a tough yoga class). I decided to include dehydrated, pulverized green vegetables (spinach and kale) to the mix to increase the mineral and phytonutrient content. I decided to leave my dried fruit a little on the chewy side and in slightly bigger pieces to add some texture. I used blueberries for their very high antioxidant content and apricots for their very high glucose to fructose ratio (I used dried apricots because it was more cost effective). I decided to go a little light on the fat, just enough to hold everything together, because I was adding so much energy to the bar by adding both fruits and vegetables. As I said, I approached this as creating a meal replacement, rather than recreating a historically-accurate pemmican (which would not have vegetables and would be closer to a 1:1 ratio of meat to fat).
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The result was something that was actually quite palatable. It is not sweet, and as someone who used to pack in the double chocolate fudge whey-based protein bars, this was a little disappointing. They taste healthy, if that makes any sense. And the more I ate, the more the flavor grew on me. I used some coconut oil in my mix because the flavor worked very well. These bars were soft after sitting in a warm car, but still held together. However, if you want these bars to reallytravel, I suggest substituting more tallow.
Also, I dried everything in my Food Dehydrator
(see this post). You could do all of this in your oven on the lowest temperature, but I have no idea how long it would take, so if you’re going to try this, you’ll need to experiment. I used beef heart because I love the flavor, especially for jerky, and it dries so well. You could use flank steak or lean ground meat (beef or bison) instead. This recipe made 8 candy bar-sized snack bars, which I figure are comparable to a typical meal replacement bar. This recipe can easily be scaled up or down. Also note that because the fruit wasn’t completely dried, I opted to store these bars in the fridge (but I think they would keep for a very long time in there).
Ingredients:
- 1 lb grass-fed beef heart (or substitute flank steak or ground meat)
- 4 cups chopped frozen spinach (I measure while frozen)
- 2 cups chopped kale (packed)
- 2 cups wild blueberries (I used frozen), or ½ cup Dried Wild Blueberries
- ½ cup Dried Apricots (or about 15 fresh apricots, dehydrated until still soft)
- ¼ cup extra virgin coconut oil (substitute tallow for better portability)
- ½ cup tallow (you can make your own or purchase)
(or about 15 fresh apricots, dehydrated until still soft)1. Slice beef heart (or flank steak) into ¼”-thick slices and lay on a tray (or two) of your Food Dehydrator. It is easier to slice if the meat is partially frozen. I like the trick of moving it from the freezer to the fridge the night before. Alternatively, you can form ¼”-thick patties of ground meat.
2. Dehydrate meat for 5-6 hours, until quite firm and most of the moisture is gone.
3. Place chopped spinach and kale onto a Fruit Roll Sheet
(or two) on a tray in your Food Dehydrator. Place blueberries on a Fruit Roll Sheet in your Food Dehydrator.
4. Dehydrate another 3-4 hours, until the greens are completely crisp and the blueberries are quite small, wrinkled and chewy. At this point the meat should be completely crisp as well.
5. Grind meat and greens in a Food Processor
, Blender
or Magic Bullet
as finely as possible.
6. Finely chop apricots or process in your food processor. Melt coconut oil and tallow.
7. Mix blueberries, apricot, greens and meat together in a bowl. Add melted coconut oil and tallow, stirring until completely incorporated (if it isn’t holding together for you, add more tallow and/or coconut oil 1 Tbsp at a time until you have a fairly moist sticky dough).
8. Press into a 9×9 inch pan. Chill until firm and cut into squares or bars.
“If I Can’t Always Afford Grass-Fed Beef, What Should I Buy?”
love this! I used to like Pemmican bars, but these are so amazingly colorful and nutrient dense! Way to go
do you season the beef heart or just slice and dehydrate??
For jerky, I season. For pemmican, I don’t.
is the meat raw??
It’s dehydrated, so not really raw and not really cooked.
Do you dehydrate the meat for an additional 3-4 hours when you’re doing the greens or take it out after the initial 5-6 hours?
Leave the meat in. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
These are delicious. I had to modify the recipe a little because I couldn’t find tallow or ingredients to make it. I used coconut oil and duck fat, so there a bit soft and require a little pressure to get them to hold together. Then I put them into individual little baggies and in an airtight container. I kind of have to press them together in the bag before I try to eat them life a bar. But oh so worth it. The next time, if I’m in the same situation when it comes to fats, I’ll mold them into muffin tins before bagging them.
I think I could also use the fat rendered from cooking homemade bacon from uncured no sugar plain pork belly.
Thank you for sharing this!
Can I make this with grass fed beef liver? Having trouble finding beef heart locally and can’t afford to place an order yet.
You could really make it with any meat.
Any chance you could tell us how many calories each bar would be (if you were cutting the recipe in 8 bars that is)
No idea. I don’t count calories (or anything else for that matter).
Do you have to take off the tough white coating of the heart before drying it?
I don’t.
Has anyone tried this in an oven on the lowest setting (I don’t have a dehydrator)? If so, what have you found for times?
Is there any way of making those without a food dehydrator?
I don’t have one so I’m wondering if I could make those with already cooked ground meat or store-bought beef jerkies…
You can do it in the oven on the lowest temperature, but I don’t know how long it would take.
how long does it keep?
If you keep it in the fridge, I think it would be fine for at least a week and probably much longer.
Pemmican prepared correctly can last decades stored properly.
Can’t do coconut oil. Palm oil or ghee good substitutions?
Palm oil may work, but Sarah has not tried the recipe using palm oil. Please post another comment to let us know how they turn out if you use palm oil. — Tamar (Sarah’s assistant)
Sorry to be dense…you do not cook the meat before dehydrating, correct?
Correct. — Tamar, Sarah’s assistant
I thought pemmican was originally made to last a long time without refrigeration (which was not available). Why do these need to be refrigerated, and how would you know if they had gone bad? By smell, sight of mold? I would love something with protein and fat that would keep longer. Is jerky a better option for that?
Traditional pemmican does not include vegetables. Jerky or traditional pemmican (you can read more about it in the post above the recipe) would be a better option for long-term storage. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
Pemmican is a winter food. So yeah, technically it’s always been refrigerated :p
(Well, at least, the pemmican that’s made by the First Nations where I live.)
Muito bom receita adoro. Obrigado.
Can these be frozen to keep longer?
Yes, though they may get a little soft when thawed. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
Can you use cultivated blueberries? I have loads of those but don’t even know where I could get wild ones.
That’s fine. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
I just made this recipe. It tastes awful. It smells and tastes like fish food. It totally made me gag. I guess pemmican is not for me.
This is amazing. I made a double batch. I bought grass-fed suet at the butcher for $3 a lb, put it in the frig for a while to make it cold and flakey, ran it though the food processor and put it in the crockpot on low for a few hours. Now I have tallow for this recipe plus a quart to use for fried plantains! I sliced partially-frozen beef heart on the mandolin into thin slices and dried in my Excelsior dehydrator, along with the kale and spinach. I bought dried blueberries and apricots. The first bite – I wasn’t sure if I liked it. But by the third bite I LOVED it and wanted more. I calculated as follows: if you double the recipe and make twelve bars each will have approximately 20 grams of protein and 24 grams of fat. Don’t know how much carb. I will be visiting family in the midwest, now I can be assured I can have control over what I eat…I won’t get in a situation where I have to eat something that will trigger a reaction.
Can you substitute tallow for poor lard?
I can’t eat kale. Can I double the spinach or which other green can I substitute?
Thank you!
I’m not the Paleo Mom, but yes you can!
Oh my goodness, has anyone even mentioned how pretty these turned out?!?!
The 2 c of chopped kale is raw? For those people who have a tendency towards kidney stones then spinach should be avoided (meaning my husband). To make this are you talking about 6 c of raw kale?
I have a silly question…if I am going to buy something that I click on from your blog post…do you get a “royalty” from it? ((I’m asking because I have “saved to wish list” several items but I want to make sure if you get some kind of kickback that when I go to buy it I do it from the link instead of from my wish list or from an Amazon search….hopefully I’ve made myself clear! :D))
Yes, Sarah does use affiliate links in most of her posts. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
Can you use grass fed ground beef? If so, should it be cooked first before dehydrating?
YES Holly you can 🙂 Sarah said earlier than any type of meat will work!
What temperature do you dehydrate the meat and greens at? I want to put them in all at the same time and let them go, but I don’t want to kill the nutrients in the greens with too high of dehydrating temps?
Can I pack 6 portions of this pelican that will be out of the frigde in 6 different biggies for 6 whole days?
Interested in response to Lil honeys question (sp.not withstandink?!)..Are these bars gonna last 2 weeks on the AT w/o refridgeration? Cynthia, Much appreciation to your nutritional eval!! Thx from NH!
If you use ground beef, why can’t you just mix everything together, form it into bars and then put it in the dehydrator to dry?
Can someone enlighten me on why this dehydrated meat does not pose a parasitic concern? Especially if using local country farm beef; not Organic in any way.
I’m all for it if I can get past this concern.
Thanks,
I noticed you had not received an answer to your question. Basically you are completely removing the water from the meat. Native Americans used Pemmican to trade and barter. Pemmican was used on the long trips of explorers. A bit different from Paleo Mom’s recipe you will see similarities. I don’t use Spinach and Kale in my recipe. I just maintain my ration of meat to rendered of approximately 60/40 or a bit less on the fat. I add some salt and pepper and spices and a bit of hot pepper and chili powder for some flavor. I typically store in the freezer and don’t worry about it if we have a power outage. Here is a link that has some good reading included.
https://eatmeatdrinkwater.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/pemmican.pdf
For those concerned about parasites, freezing for 15 days kills th eggs.
Can you substitute pig heart for beef heart?
You bitches be cray cray
I have made pemmican once so far. I have a question regarding the texture. I dried my meat in the oven which took about 4 hours. Crumbled the pieces into a Kitchen Ninja and turned it into as fine a powder as possible. My final product came out very gritty. I have read someone else describe theirs as being like dirt and that would be close. I used a combo of tallow and bacon fat. Too much bacon fat I think the flavour is too much really.
How does one get the dried meat fine enough to not be gritty?
You may have over cooked the meat in the oven with too high of a temperature causing it to get too hard and turn to grit when ground. It should be kind of light and fluffy after it’s ground. Personally I never had luck with my food processor, I use a meat grinder now on the meat AFTER it’s dried and that works very well, or you could try the traditional way and pound it with a rock 🙂
Making your own pemmican is great, though if you’d like to try some that’s already made then you may want to check out our new pemmican product: http://www.realpemmican.com/
The recipe is unique but not unusual. A lot of trial and error went into perfecting the process 😉
Hi, thanks for the article. Can you make pemmican with turkey? Do you know what search terms would be the right terms to use to find out how to make something like it with turkey?
I’m so confused on this tallow/lard Ect.. . Would brown rice syrup work?
No, lard and tallow are fats, and brown rice syrup is a processed sweetener. -Kiersten
Is it safe to use ground beef? I want to use lean or extra lean ground beef because of the cheapness, but I am unsure about raw ground beef. I’ve made jerky with ground beef before, but used nitrate to kill any germs in it.