shirley sommers wrote:
> I am going to attempt making some  Pemmican since finding a recipe using ground meat.
> http://www.tc.umn.edu/~haskell/HSP/PEMMICAN.htmlIf 
>   
> ~also~
>   Is there only a 'certain' type of fat that can be used. 
> If this is so what exactly is it?
>  
>   
> What do you think about the amount of ground dry fruits suggested in the pemmican ingredient list ? Seems like a lot   too me . I thought Pemmican was meat & fat.
>  
>   
Aaargh! Another disinformation expert.  Dooleys of Boise is a pervert.  :(

I use the leanest ground beef, from grassfed organic oxen.  Others use 
ground round roast or whatever, there will be less white (connective 
tissue) in that.
I put it between two sheets of plastic and use a rolling pin to flatten 
it to 1/8"; this is so it will dry in a reasonable time (days!).

I've only ever heard of beef fat being rendered for tallow for pemmican 
- lard is not suitable. There was discussion of what kind of beef fat; 
the consensus is that it is the fat on the back just before the tail. I 
can't get that, so use what I can get - note that the fat around the 
kidneys makes tallow that thickens at too high a temperature, so can't 
mix it without cooking the ground meat. Bad!

Do Not dry at 180F, there is no point in making this as it will be just 
crummy cooked beef.
Pemmican must contain all the enzymes and vitamins, and they are 
destroyed at temps over 104F.
It takes me three days of 94F to make it suitably brittle. If you do 
that on a cookie sheet, flip it every day or so so that it all dries.
Once dried, it is called jerky, and I grind it to a powder.

The purpose of the fruit, nuts and sweet is to feed the yeast infection 
so the the eater will remain fat and miserable. I don't even put salt in 
anymore. Made it taste too sharp.

Best place I know of to learn of this is at 
http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/ and do a search for pemmican.


This is fun stuff, and gives a satisfying feeling of independence from 
stored processed food.

Have fun

William