Pemmican

Pemmican is a prepared preserved meat. The name comes from the Cree word pimhkn, which itself is a derivative from the word pim, fat, or grease. Pemmican is high in protein, will last indefinitely, and is easy to carry. This was the food that allowed the voyageurs of the canoe and York Boat rigades to travel long distances without stopping to hunt. !n the prairies where there was a shortage of fuel it had the advantage of using the sun to dry the meat. Pemmican ecause of its composition never fro"e solid and could e used all winter with ease. Thus, it was also the ideal food source for the winter traveler. Pemmican can e made from the meat of many animals ut the #etis were est known for making pemmican from uffalo meat. #etis women prepared pemmican y first cutting the meat into strips that they worked etween their palms into long strips a out a $uarter inch thick. These strips were then hung on rows of wooden slats supported y tripods and dried in the sun. %fter a few days on the frames the meat was sufficiently dried. Choice pieces were rolled up and saved as eef &erky. The rest of the meat was laid out on a hide and pounded into a powder. #elted fat was then poured over the meat and then was worked with shovels into a uniform mass. The mi'ture was then poured into rawhide sacks known as Taureau' ( ulls) of pemmican. *hen the fat was from the udder, the sacks were known as Taureau' fins (fine ulls). % mi'ture of meat with one marrow instead of ordinary tallow was called Taureau' grand. %nother mi'ture included dried fruits such as saskatoons, pears, chokecherries or cran erries. These sacks were called Taureau' + grains or erry ulls. These were particularly long lasting since the acid from the erries added to the preservative $uality.

,tone hammer used to pound pemmican.

.n /00/ 1athy 2odgson3,mith interviewed %gnes Carri4re of Cum erland 2ouse, ,askatchewan for New Breed Magazine and %gnes descri ed how she made Pemmican. . would give anything to eat Pemmican today, %gnes egins, sharing her recipe. 5irst you need to dry the moose meat y flattening it and drying it slowly over a low fire. Then you pound it to reak it apart and put it in a clean canvas ag. ,he then recalled how her mother3in3law would chop the moose ones and drop them into a pot of oiling water, distilling the one marrow, tallow and the milk white moose lard would float to the top of the roth. !nce cooled, you could &ust scoop the moose lard from the mi'ture. You would then take the cooled moose lard and add it to the pounded moose meat, kneading it until it was all mi'ed together nicely, adding raisins for sweetness. You would keep the mi'ture aside for a while so that the moose lard could get hard again and then you cut it up into s$uares for later feasting.-

1athy 2odgson3,mith, %gnes Carri4re6 % #etis 7randmother, New Breed Magazine, 8uly9%ugust /00/6 //3/:.

#arty 5oster reports on preparation of pemmican y the #etis in #ontana6/ *omen used chokecherries and 8une erries in their pemmican. #ary ;a#are 8ohnson, who grew up early in the century near the #ilk <iver town of #alta, #ontana descri ed her family=s preparation of pemmican6 >5irst drying the meat? *hen you first hung it to dry >you? then uilt a fire underneath the deal and let it smoke. The smoke kept the flies away from the meat. %nd we smoked it, not all the time it was drying, &ust for a while, and it=d take pro a ly a couple of days to dry @ &ust depends how thin you can slice it. >#etis women prided themselves on how thin @ and $uickly @ they could slice meat. The thinness and length of the strips one was a le to cut was a measure of skill and source of respect.? You mash up your dry meat real fine and then you mi'ed dry cherries >chokecherries? in there. You had to mash it together and put sugar in thereA $uite a it of sugar, and you put melted shortening in it. #i' it real good and then you pound real goodApounded and let it set till it got real hardB. Then when it was ready to eat you &ust kind of roke it up in chunks. Richot or Richaud was a form of pemmican made with oatmeal instead of erries. <aisins were important for making nhoaa3ganak, a dried and pounded moosemeat mi'ed with salt, sugar, dark raisins and chokecherries. This was then pressed into cakes and ars. .n -CDE, 8oseph ;afrom oise ( . -F:C) of Geche, Gorth Hakota gave the following account of making pemmican6 #r. ;a5rom oise made lots of Pemmican, he would slice the uffalo meat in thin slices and put it out to dry good, and after it was good and dry he would put it on a wire over a fire to cook a little, then he would put it on a uffalo hide and would pound it with clu s until it was good and fine, then he would take part of a uffalo hide and wet the hide and make a sack a out the si"e of a -00l . flour sack, then they would put this fine meat in the sack and pound it good to pack it, then they put in a little at a time and packed it , they they would pour in Buffalo tallow, then some more fine meat. *hen the sack was full they sewed it up with sinew. Then they would pack it in a <ed <iver Cart with a uffalo hide stretched over the cart to keep the rain out. .n this way it would keep for years. .t was very good food. *hen they wanted to use some they would cut some off and put it in a pan with a little water and it made a great stew. 2e would take the uffalo ones and pound them very fine like flour and oil them and make uffalo utter, it was yellow &ust like utter from cows cream and it was very good. ( .nterviewed y 5rank !=;eary, Pem ina County Pioneers Pro&ect, -CDE)

#artha 2arroun 5oster, *e 1now *ho *e %re6 #ultiethnic .dentity in a #ontana #etis Community. Ph. H. Thesis, Iniversity of California, ;os %ngeles, /0006 J:0, :-D.

Hrying meat, Gational %rchives Canada, K.,. Curtis. Pemmican was widely adopted as a high3energy food y Kuropeans involved in the fur trade and later y %rctic and %ntarctic e'plorers, such as <o ert 5alcon ,cott and <oald %mundson. Gorth Pole e'plorer <o ert Peary used pemmican on all three of his e'peditions, from -FFL to -C0C, for oth his men and his dogs. .n his -C-E ook Secrets of Polar Travel, he devoted several pages to the food, stating, MToo much cannot e said of the importance of pemmican to a polar e'pedition. .t is an a solute sine ua non.

*ithout it a sledge3party cannot compact its supplies within a limit of weight to make a serious polar &ourney successful.M

Compiled y ;awrence Barkwell Coordinator of #etis 2eritage and 2istory <esearch ;ouis <iel .nstitute (/0J) :F:3FJEJ e't /CF