To make pemmican, meat is cut into thin strips and set out to dry on peeled willow racks over hot coal embers, or simply in the sun and wind. Once it is sufficiently dried, it is shredded and pounded between two rocks into fine pieces. Dried wild berries are added to it. Then hot marrow grease is added to the mixture. Large leg bones such as femurs and tibias are taken for marrow because they contain the greatest amount.

This is all put into a pouch made of bison stomach or intestine, which is closed and sealed with hot grease. Once cool, the pouch hardens, and provides a hermetic (air tight) seal. This seal is the strength of pemmican; it keeps out air-borne bacteria which might spoil the meat. It’s almost impossible to tell the difference between four-year old properly sealed pemmican and freshly prepared pemmican.

The best pemmican is made solely from the meat of bison cows and young bulls. The tougher meat of old bulls was used mainly to feed dogs or eaten in dire emergencies. Pemmican is eaten as a soup, stew or as is. When available, leaves of the peppermint plant or wild onions are commonly added for flavour.

Pemmican was originally made as back-up for times when game was scarce because it is virtually unspoilable, portable and lightweight for travellers. It is also provides a balanced diet with the meat for protein, the berries for essential vitamins, and the fat and marrow are a ready source of energy. The early Hudson’s Bay Company bought tons of pemmican which they provided to fur trappers who needed concentrated calories for their hard lifestyle of paddling all day and negotiating through numerous portages while carrying heavy loads.