Pemmican is lean meat dried,or 'jerked' It is then finely ground up and blended into melted animal fat and allowed to set up. Sometimes various wild berries were added. It is very long lasting. Some historical accounts mentioned pemmican stored 20+years and in perfect condition. It is more of a cold weather food when fat and protiens are needed. You would need to slowly introduce it to a diet previous to using it as the staple food to prevent intestinal distress.