Of course, on longer hiking tours, you don’t just have to rely on outdoor food that you can buy ready-made. There are also cheaper and cheaper alternatives to provide themselves with food on the road. A tasty alternative can be homemade Pemmikan which is long shelf life and very nutritious.
Where does pemmican come from?
Pemmican was very popular with the Indians as provisions on long hikes. It was long lasting and could be eaten as a snack or boiled with hot water, as soup or porridge. Especially meat pemmican was very popular. Even richer in calories and fat than dried meat, it provided Indians with all the essential nutrients they needed on their migrations. Some tribes also prepared pemmican with fish meal or, the vegetarian version, with corn meal. Especially the tribes that grew corn in their fields preferred the cornmeal version.
Ingredients for the vegetarian pemmican
- 125 g margarine
- 120 g honey
- 200 g coconut flakes or 200 g ground almonds
- 250 g raisins
- 150 g finely chopped dried fruit
(berries, cherries, apricots, cherries) - 50 g brown sugar
- Cinnamon to taste (if you like it)
Preparation of the pemmican
Slightly heat the margarine, add honey and sugar – stir and add all the ingredients little by little.
Now form balls and bars as needed, possibly in the refrigerator before something to solidify, depending on how sticky you can stand it on your hands ;-). After portioning, wrap well in aluminum foil.
On hikes this is a substantial (very calorie-rich) snack or if you pour the whole thing with hot water a delicious fruit porridge, possibly a few oatmeal to it or stirred into 5 minutes rice a full, well filling meal.
My favorite is the almond version with 1 packet of vanilla instant pudding (pour powder only with hot water). Prepare pudding according to package directions and stir in fruit pemmican to taste.
Alternative preparations
- Meat pemmican
Prepared from different grated dried meat (bison, beef or game), dried berries, spices and fat. - Corn pemmican
Made from cornmeal, dried fruit, sugar and fat. - Fruit pemmican
Made from dried fruits, nuts, fat and sugar.
