On 23 Jul 2004, Ignoramus20054 > wrote:

>What I want to make is called "pemmican" -- a mixture of crushed dried
>meat, beef tallow, and some berries. I will probably keep it in the
>freezer. So, bacteria are mainly a concern during drying, due to
>toxins they would produce in that timeframe.

I make pemmican all the time. I have some bison now in the refrigerator
thawing out. I do not marinade my meat. I only use a temperature of 115-125
degrees to dry. (Lower in the winter when the air is dry, the higher if a
humid summer period.) I only use meat and bison suet. I get enough fresh
fruit year round that I see no need to add that to the mixture. I keep it
for months in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Bacteria are not produced during drying. The key to all of this is
absolutely no moisture. All bacteria need moisture to survive. (Some don't
need air, but they all need moisture.) I dry my meat for several days.
There should no longer be a smell coming from the dehydrator. The jerky
should be brittle. I render my suet until there is no steam bubbles coming
up. I filter it before the bubbles stop, and then be sure a second time
that there are none. If you leave all the crude in the bubbles won't stop
for a very long time, as the crude holds moisture.

Here is something I wrote a while back on rendering suet:
http://paleofood.com/suet.txt

And here are some picture I took:
http://donwiss.com/pictures/pemmican/
http://donwiss.com/pictures/pemmican2/
http://donwiss.com/pictures/pemmican3/

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.