Pemmican

Pemmican

Pemmican is a Native American food that was originally made from animal fat (suet), powdered jerky, nuts, dried berries and whatever else they felt like throwing in. It is close to an ideal food for high exertion. The jerky provides protein, the berries and nuts give carbohydrates and the fat, well it gives fat. In cold weather fat burns hot to keep you warm.

Nowadays most scouts (and their leaders) would turn up their noses at anything that had fat as its main ingredient. So here’s an updated recipe using peanut butter and honey.

Combine peanut butter and honey in a 2:1 ratio, two parts peanut butter to one part honey. I used 3 cups of peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups of honey. That made the 9″ x 9″ pan of pemmican shown. I also used chunky peanut butter. Heat over low heat to make the mixture softer so everything mixes together well. Add chopped jerky, seeds, raisins or other dried fruit, whatever you want. Mix well and pour into a 9″ x 9″ baking pan. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. This makes it easier to cut. Cut into bars and wrap in wax paper. Package the bars in Ziploc bags.