Hello all! Does anyone know of a place to find grass fed fresh meat in the baltimore/d.c. area? I want to try making pemmican, but am not comfortable using the grocery store beef to make jerky? Any advice? I suppose even non-grass fed would be alright if it was really fresh. Have any of you who use food dehydrators noticed a difference? Do you you dehydrate the beef raw? (That is what makes me kinda nervous, unless it is super fresh meat.) I am considering purchasing a food dehydrator b/c I have read that the oven doesn't work very well for this. Any pemmican advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
--rebekah

I don't know where to get grass fed beef in your area. Of course, you can always order it from an online company, there are several that I have seen. Of course, you could look for a local meat processor. If they don't have range fed, they could probably still point you in the right direction.

I wouldn't be to worried about drying beef raw. Drying the meat out kills any bacteria that might be on it. (of course, fresh meat is still a really good idea. )

I am trying to talk the guy I get Water Buffalo from to hook me up with some fat, so I can make pemmican. No luck so far, mebbe when he slaughters the next animal, I'll get lucky!

Keep us posted on how the pemmican turns out.

I have never considered making pemmican because I live in a small apartment and can't see myself spending 24 hours in front of my tiny apartment sized stove in my tiny apartment sized "what is considered a" kitchen rendering fat, etc. I can't even get a regular cookie sheet into my oven as it's too small (the oven). I'm waiting for the day when it will be produced and sold commerically, and I am confident that day will come in my lifetime.

Regarding organic, grass fed produce there are many websites providing these besides the Weston Price Foundation site. I have found a couple of these farms in Alberta that sell locally in my city this way.

Good luck!

Thanks! I will look for online suppliers. I would LOVE it if there were things like pemmican at the grocery!!! Even if there were only good quality jerky w/out sugar, etc... I am going to render some suet and probably use store bought jerky the for the first time. I bought a couple of bags of the lowest carb jerky I could find, I'll let you know how it comes out!
--rebekah

Go to the top and enter pemmican in seach You will be amazed at the different ideas and recipes.
Diane

Huntress:
When I first read neanderthin I did a pemmican search in this forum, it was fantastic! I have gotten great info from that, but mostly the people said that the oven didn't work well. I have fab directions on rendering fat though, actually, I think mabey it was a post of your's? Some of the recipe ideas sound really great as well, I just want to find the proper ingredients now!
Thanks for all the suggestions,
--rebekah.