I was looking on Pinterest for a Zero Carb pemmican recipe and was surprised to find there isn’t one. There are many recipes for “Pemmican,” but they are not Zero Carb traditional Pemmican. Traditional pemmican has two ingredients, dried lean meat, and rendered fat (tallow). The addition of other ingredients compromises the nutritional value as well as the shelf life.
Lex Rooker, who was a member of the old ZIOH forum and who I had the pleasure of meeting at one of our infamous Meat-ups in the Los Angeles area, created a very detailed pemmican-making tutorial, complete with pictures and some Pemmican history. You can download his Pemmican tutorial here.
Lex also created a very detailed tutorial on how to make an inexpensive jerky drier out of a few household items. You can download the Jerky Drier PDF here.
I use my MasterBuilt Electric Smoker to dry beef for pemmican. Just make sure you have enough airflow and don’t load it with too much meat or it won’t dry fast enough. I only load two racks at a time. I use a Ninja Master Prep to grind the dry beef.
Carolina, also a member of the old ZIOH forum, made these two fantastic instructional videos on how to make pemmican.
Pemmican is the perfect travel, hiking, camping, and survival food. I like pemmican, but it is certainly an acquired taste, so you may want to experiment with it before your journey.
When going on long hikes, Pemmican is an invaluable food source. You don’t have to pack cooking gear, plates, utensils, pots, or pans. If you want hot food, you can always drop a chunk of pemmican in a mug of hot water with a bouillon cube or some dried herbs and sea salt, then it becomes a tasty hot soup. But, you will have to pack something to boil water for that.
I make mine in cupcake liners, regular size, and mini size, so I can have a quick snack if needed. A large, filled to the top, cupcake size (3oz) contains about 573 calories. 1oz of pemmican = approx 191 calories. When planning a long hike, you want to make sure you pack enough. I figured, for myself,(everybody will be different), 2000 calories per day. So, I packed 3 regular size and a few mini ones for each day. I vacuum-sealed each day’s ration for easy stuffing into my pack. I brought 3 days extra, just to be safe. TIP: Include a couple of paper towels in each pack.
Making Pemmican is a time consuming, expensive process, so if you are not into getting all the equipment and spending all the time making it, you can now buy it!
I’m so happy that we can now purchase delicious shelf-stable pemmican from The Carnivore Bar! Use code ZCDANA at checkout for 10% off your purchase!
The Carnivore Bar comes in a convenient, easy to open package, is available, with or without salt and they now have some flavored varieties. My preference is the traditional, plain with no salt. The Carnivore Bar has a crunchy, creamy texture, kind of like a Nestle Crunch Bar, that I really like.
For more information about the Zero Carb diet, join us in the ZeroCarbHealth Facebook Group.
