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'Pemmican' is a concentrated food consisting of dried pulverized meat, dried berries, and rendered fat. It was invented by the native peoples of North America, and widely used during the fur trade and later by Arctic and Antarctic explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen as a high-calorie food. Pemmican was among the supplies taken by the disastrous Burke and Wills expedition across central Australia. The supply was spoilt and presumably not eaten, a factor leading to the occurrence of scurvy and death among expedition members. Properly packaged, it can be stored for long periods of time.
The specific ingredients used in it were usually whatever was available; the meat was often bison, moose, elk, or deer. Fruits such as cranberries, saskatoon berries were common, though cherries, currants, chokeberries and blueberries were also used, but almost exclusively in ceremonial and wedding pemmican.
The highest quality pemmican is made from lean meat and bone marrow fat; the pemmican buyers of the fur trade era had strict specifications.
To conserve scarce food, in 1814 Governor Miles Macdonell of Assiniboia (or Red River Colony) forbade, in the 'Pemmican Proclamation', the export of pemmican from his jurisdiction. Pemmican was exported by the Métis not only to the Hudson's Bay Company, but also to the North West Company, the HBC's chief competitor that happened to be enjoying better success in the fur trade at the time. The proclamation led to the destruction, twice, of the chief Red River settlement of Fort Douglas by the North West Company, the destruction of the North West Company Fort Gibraltar by the HBC, and to the Battle of Seven Oaks, all in 1816.
British arctic expeditions fed a type of pemmican to their dogs as "sledging rations". Called "Bovril pemmican" or simply "dog pemmican", it was a beef product consisting of 2/3 protein and 1/3 fat, without carbohydrate. It was later ascertained that although the dogs survived on it, this was not a healthy diet for them, being too high in protein.[1]
Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 expedition to the antarctic resorted to eating dog pemmican when they were stranded on ice for the winter.[2]
The brand name ''Pemmican'' currently refers to at least two unrelated ranges of food products in the United States. Both are marketed primarily for outdoor enthusiasts:
★ A brand of beef jerky, based in Omaha, Nebraska and owned by ConAgra. Website: http://www.pemmican.com
★ A range of high-energy food bars sold under the brand names ''MealPack'' and ''Bear Valley Pemmican'' by Intermountain Trading Co. Ltd. in Albany, California. These bars are baked from malted corn and barley (with no meat). Bear Valley Foods was threatened with a lawsuit over the use of the ''Pemmican'' name, by a multinational corporation (presumed to be ConAgra); however, they were ultimately allowed to keep the name.
1. Taylor R.J.F. "The physiology of sledge dogs", ''Polar Record'' 8 (55): 317-321 (January 1957), reprinted The Fan Hitch Volume 5, Number 2 (March 2003) [1]
2. ''Endurance'' by Alfred Lansing (McGraw Hill, 1969) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-59666
★ Forcemeat
★ Agutak
★ Hoosh
★ Metis Nation in the Pemmican Trade
★ Pemmican recipes - Nature's perfect food Recipes for pemmican with and without meat
★ Bear Valley Pemmican American commercial producer of packaged Pemmican
★ Experiments in traditional Pemmican Preparation
The specific ingredients used in it were usually whatever was available; the meat was often bison, moose, elk, or deer. Fruits such as cranberries, saskatoon berries were common, though cherries, currants, chokeberries and blueberries were also used, but almost exclusively in ceremonial and wedding pemmican.
The highest quality pemmican is made from lean meat and bone marrow fat; the pemmican buyers of the fur trade era had strict specifications.
| Contents |
| The Pemmican Proclamation |
| Dog pemmican |
| Modern commercial usage |
| References |
| See also |
| External links |
The Pemmican Proclamation
To conserve scarce food, in 1814 Governor Miles Macdonell of Assiniboia (or Red River Colony) forbade, in the 'Pemmican Proclamation', the export of pemmican from his jurisdiction. Pemmican was exported by the Métis not only to the Hudson's Bay Company, but also to the North West Company, the HBC's chief competitor that happened to be enjoying better success in the fur trade at the time. The proclamation led to the destruction, twice, of the chief Red River settlement of Fort Douglas by the North West Company, the destruction of the North West Company Fort Gibraltar by the HBC, and to the Battle of Seven Oaks, all in 1816.
Dog pemmican
British arctic expeditions fed a type of pemmican to their dogs as "sledging rations". Called "Bovril pemmican" or simply "dog pemmican", it was a beef product consisting of 2/3 protein and 1/3 fat, without carbohydrate. It was later ascertained that although the dogs survived on it, this was not a healthy diet for them, being too high in protein.[1]
Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 expedition to the antarctic resorted to eating dog pemmican when they were stranded on ice for the winter.[2]
Modern commercial usage
The brand name ''Pemmican'' currently refers to at least two unrelated ranges of food products in the United States. Both are marketed primarily for outdoor enthusiasts:
★ A brand of beef jerky, based in Omaha, Nebraska and owned by ConAgra. Website: http://www.pemmican.com
★ A range of high-energy food bars sold under the brand names ''MealPack'' and ''Bear Valley Pemmican'' by Intermountain Trading Co. Ltd. in Albany, California. These bars are baked from malted corn and barley (with no meat). Bear Valley Foods was threatened with a lawsuit over the use of the ''Pemmican'' name, by a multinational corporation (presumed to be ConAgra); however, they were ultimately allowed to keep the name.
References
1. Taylor R.J.F. "The physiology of sledge dogs", ''Polar Record'' 8 (55): 317-321 (January 1957), reprinted The Fan Hitch Volume 5, Number 2 (March 2003) [1]
2. ''Endurance'' by Alfred Lansing (McGraw Hill, 1969) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-59666
See also
★ Forcemeat
★ Agutak
★ Hoosh
External links
★ Metis Nation in the Pemmican Trade
★ Pemmican recipes - Nature's perfect food Recipes for pemmican with and without meat
★ Bear Valley Pemmican American commercial producer of packaged Pemmican
★ Experiments in traditional Pemmican Preparation
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