Kinnikinnik and fat spoilage

[bulrush]

I think kinnikinnik and pemmican are made with large amounts of animal fat, and meat pieces. How come the animal fat doesn't spoil and get rancid at room temperature? I know corn and olive oil spoils.

[Alpine_Sapper]

I think kinnikinnik and pemmican are made with large amounts of animal fat, and meat pieces. How come the animal fat doesn't spoil and get rancid at room temperature? I know corn and olive oil spoils.

I've wondered the same thing. Maybe the rendering process prior to adding it to the other ingredients?

[trax]

kinnikinnick is a plant. Pemmican is made with, traditionally bison, fat. The word pimic (peemeek) in Cree means fat or lard. It's pounded into an almost powdery, flaky kind of texture, mixed with berries and dried meat and wrapped in hide for storage. I'm not definite on the room temperature storage, but when buried, the stuff stored for literally years without spoilage. I don't know why it didn't spoil but it's storage characteristics are one of the things that made it so important for people in the 18th and 19th centuries traveling the trade routes. Takes a while to get say, from Montreal to Winnipeg, and paddlers get hungry.

[Rick]

I was searching for a reason the fat in pemmican doesn't rot (danged if I know) and ran across this:

Pemmican could be broken from a large chunk and eaten. Sometimes it was made into a stew called rubbaboo. A mixture of flour, water, and maple sugar was boiled in a large kettle. To this were added chunks of pemmican. After this cooked for a while it formed a porridge-type stew which was a welcome break from the plain pemmican.

Source:

http://www.whiteoak.org/learning/food.htm

That's the first I've heard of pemmican stew or porridge.

[trax]

I was going to mention the stew/porridge combinations. My guess is that the recipe was a little less formal and a lot more based on what the people had on hand at the time. Many travelers had hardened maple sugar candy which would be the sweetener. The berries used were whatever was available, but I am most cognizant of blueberries and saskatoons in pemmican.

[Rick]

I think bulrush asked a very good question. If you set suet out on a table I am sure it would spoil in no time. Yet I have no idea why it lasts as long as it does when made into pemmican. Maybe someone has an answer. I did a quick search and didn't find anything.

[bulrush]

Maybe there is a lot of salt in it. I have heard (from Foxfire) the oldtimers used to store meat in 8-10g crocks, and cover the top with warm fat. And it kept for months. I also remember that Crisco (animal lard) is not stored in the fridge. It would keep for about 2 years before it would smell "off" (that is, when we used Crisco, we don't anymore).

[canid]

the acid content combined with the low moisture help will bacteria and th low moisture is all it takes to keep most fungi at bay.

[Rick]

I dont' use a lot of salt in making my jerky. So I don't think that's it. And Crisco is made from vegetable oil and has no animal products in it. It's considered kosher and vegan safe.

[canid]

helooo?
lower PH [acidic conditions] inhibit the growth of anaerobic bacteria in preserved food.

[Rick]

Helooo? I was typing while you posted. Sheeesh. Give me a break, I'm old.

[canid]

ok, but next time...
/me shakes fist vaguely

[trax]

makes sense, acidic content from the berries....

[canid]

yep, that's why wild cranberries stay fresh even weeks after falling into nasty bog water. take them out and let them dry of a bit, how long they keep? molds and aerobic bacteria go to work right away and they don't keep a week before they start goin' south.