Pemmican - The Ultimate DIY SURVIVAL FOOD!

Also also: Pemmican doesn't need to be eaten like an energy bar, like you were doing. It absolutely can be, that's a perfectly valid way to consume it. But there's loads of other ways to use it, that turn it into a proper meal. Like pan-frying it, or adding some local vegetation and turning it into a stir-fry. The most common way the Native Americans used it, was to put it in some boiling water with local vegetation, to turn it into a kind of on-the-trail soup.

My friend uses beef tallow for making soap. We found a super efficient way of rendering the tallow... After you grind, put it in a giant pot with water. Bring to a boil, pour through cheese cloth and let cool. Everything separates and the tallow forms a solid disc on top. It keeps the tallow at a much lower overall temp, so it ends up with a much cleaner smell and doesn't get that funk that comes from crock pot rendering.

And 100% healthier then any type of store bought survival food for damn sure.

Fantastic demonstration! Pemican is good stuff. I have always said, "it's survival food. If you don't like it, you're not hungry enough." When you are truly hungry, just about anything tastes good

My family in the northwest are salmon fishermen. They make a version of it with salmon and berries mixed in. I’ve some in a soup and just plain. It was honestly great plain like a powdered jerky. They warned me not to eat too much because it was like it was a concentration and highly nutritious. It gave me lots of energy and it was hard not to eat too much when it tasted so good. I love it!

So I’ve been watching all the videos on pemmican. I just made a batch from about 4 pounds of beef that I had made into jerky and vacuum sealed in the freezer. About a pound of jerky. I have some Wagu beef tallow I use for searing steaks and other things. It’s probably much spicier than regular pemmican. I’ll say this, I let my dog lick the bowl I mixed it in, and she looked at me like, “who do you need me to kill for some more “ lol.

Roald Amundsen used pemmican on all his expeditions, he was first to reach the geographical South Pole in December 1911 and he sailed the Northwest Passage for the first time in 1903. He used half and half of fat and meat, he added oatmeal and peas. And for the dogs he made dog pemmican with fishmeal and more fat. His description: "Pemmican tastes excellent, takes up little space and can be eaten raw, fried or boiled." Especially as provisions on a sledge expedition, it is invaluable".

Excelent video. As a curiosity, here in Brazil, indigenous people also came up with a food that was done for long storage and to be eaten in long journeys. It was called in ancient Tupí as "pa'soka". The prefix "pa" means "to finish" and "soka" means "to ground". It consisted of ground sundried meat of any source and cassava flour grounded together in a big wodden mortar. Later on, mine workers looking for gold in the north added sugar to the mix for extra calories. Today, we write it as "paçoca" (the pronounciation doesn't change much). And it can mean two different foods. One, very traditional food in the north and northeast regions is, like I said, sundried grounded meat mixed with cassava flour. The other is type of "sweet" made from grounded peanuts, salt and sugar (also delicious). Keep the good work, man. I might try to make some pemmican myself. Very interesting idea.

The key to longevity is getting all the water you can out of the tallow, meat and fruit. I generally add just 10% by weight dried fruit to the meat and then about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of the dry mixture, then equal parts by weight dried mixture and rendered tallow. For my last batch I smoked the meat for an hour before I dried it and ground it up and the flavor was absolutely amazing! It's definitely the best trail food ever. Thanks for a great video

This is the type of information our young people should be watching. Very detailed and easy to digest , so to speak 😂 Thanks!

Tip: For the berries, you can chill the blender pitcher/blades. That way the friction-generated heat doesn't happen as fast.

Clay provides some of the very best practical survival advice and instruction. As someone who learned to survive in my youth in African bush with the very best survival experts (the Selous) and plenty of hands-on experience since then, I still find plenty to learn here. I'm no youngster anymore but trust me - adaptable creativity, experienced eyes and great knowledge saves a helluva a lot of hard work... and wasted time. I can survive in any kind of bush environment (don't fancy Desert or Snowy extremes - too old for that game). During Covid... (In my sixties, while supposedly on holiday in southern France) I found myself marooned and homeless in a foreign country - I had to put my skills to the test for months! The biggest problem (apart from the cold) was the police finding and knocking down my "stealth 😊shelters" and arresting me... Until a translator could be found. Realizing there was no sensible solution they simply let me go with a fine!! - 😆Which by that time I had no way of paying. Something of a joke all round. There's plentiful water, wild boar, rabbits and pigeons for the taking in southern France - a little wild foraging and scrumping for herbs and veggies. Er don't pick on the big boars 200kg plus - I rather take on warthog any day! I'd lost a year in France before finding opportunity and some helpful souls to make enough money to return. Now back in Africa - I'm far from sure returning was a good idea. I arrived to discover I had ABSOLUTELY nothing left - EVERYTHING GONE - business, home, furniture, clothing - ZIP!! (Thanks to the bankers!!!) Try coming back from that folks, it ain't easy at my age. Then when you think life has thrown at you what it can - it kicks you in the balls. My hip collapsed. Now hobbling around - I discovered the "state" isn't going to fix it - unless you can pay. Being white these days is a disadvantage it turns out. So first it has to be fixed - then... I'm seriously considering putting those skills to the test again if I could find a spot free of human predators. Southern Africa is fenced to the wazoo - largely because of animal predators and city life sucks, if you're broke! Wild Animals aren't really the problem in a survival situation (if you know what you are doing...) Regulations and human predators are! Believe it or not Europe, Asia and the Americas offer more open accessible wilds than Africa. Amazing isn't it. If I can put the travel funds together the global south offers many opportunities... and then there's Russia - Last bastion of Christian and traditional values! Nothing to keep me here, no family except 2 woke kids who cancelled me years ago. Yep, fix the hip and get some travel funds and I'm off for one last adventure... what have I got to lose? Absolutely NOTHING.

Hey Clay I watched your videos on making clean water next to a muddy stream, it was great in my opinion. I have been a tradesperson most of my life which often made me think out of the box. I love cooking, since I am 66 years old and my Mom was born in 1910, everything she cooks was from scratch. The food back then was much safer. I have traveled X-Country by train 3 times as a kid, I have great memories of seeing this Beautiful Country, the 3 days on a train was was like watching an amazing movie. Driving X-Country was great also, the Painted Desert is Magical. I will share your videos with certain members and friends who appreciate DIY cooking. As me and my wife lived in a rural area of upstate NY, the outdoors were all around us. During blizzard storms we had no power and we would melt snow to flush the toilet or just let it melt for drinking. A simple kerosene heater kept us safe until the Army Corps of Engineers could repair the dirt and shale road we lived on, it was originally a seasonal bungalow colony, but I converted it to a full time house, it a fun project. I have worked on both types of wells powered by a surface or jet pump or a deep well with submerged pumps etc. I think anyone who enjoys the wonderful outdoors should have a basic understanding of survival knowledge. Blenders are a basic tool for almost every kitchen, like making bread crumbs and stored safely in mason jars. Canning is a fun way to preserve many types of food as I believe you are fully aware of, having a root cellar is a great way to store canned foods in mason jars. Mason jar are affordable and last forever if you take care of them, perhaps you could do a video on preserving jams, peppers etc to keep your pantry full when you’re unable to get out to a store. Many years ago my neighbors would buy bushels of tomatoes at the end of the season, the family would save all their large soda bottles, sterilize them and make giant pots of marinara sauce and cap them with a capping press. I bet they are still available somewhere ??? Thanks Clay, I think your videos are great !!!

For best results, bring rice or ground up beans. Cook both or either and when it's almost done, mix in pemmican. A dash of Old Bay, cayenne or whatever for some bling.

Just made some using cocoa butter as the fat (I noticed cb and tallow had the same melting point). Turned out really good. I also used freeze-dried raspberries and strawberries, cocoa powder, and sea salt.👍👍

Pemmican is my go to for hunting, hiking and camping in cold weather conditions especially. Delicious once you get used to it and it makes it so much easier to hit those cold weather high calorie requirements! I put blueberries in mine too, it makes it almost like a silky sweet meat chocolate or something and I love it.

You are the real deal and I thank you for zero bs or hype. Stay strong live long Clay 👍

Best pemmican tutorial I've seen. Thanks, Clay. This is on my list of stuff to try later this year.

Thanks for taking the time to show this old classic. Great to have on a hike or hunt. Fruit and honey look like a good add in.

It reminds me of LOTR, " And how many did you eat , Pipin. "Four.."