Making Pemmican - 2

Today I finished up my first batch of pemmican. I let the dehydrator run overnight at around 115 degrees. Nowadays, it's generally recommended to make jerky at around 170 degrees but this will destroy more nutrients. I figure that a bit lower and slower will be safe. Jerky was originally made by drying for a few days in the wind over a low, smoky fire.

Then I shredded it in my food processor.

I probably would have gotten better results if I did it in smaller batches rather than all at once. I didn't get it as fine as I wanted.

Next I melted some beef tallow over a low heat, poured it into the bowl and mixed it thoroughly. After that I spooned it into the muffin tin to make pucks.

The tallow was fully melted in the pic. When it's melted it's a clear, slightly amber liquid.

In preparation for sealing the pucks I took them out of the muffin papers. They are pretty soft. I think I could have used a little less tallow.

Vacuum sealing:

And all done, ready for the freezer:

I decided to put two pucks in three of the packs to reduce waste.

Later this week I'll be heading upstate for Pennsylvania's late flintlock season. We'll try making a stew or rubaboo with one of the packages. I'll post a review after I get home.