Pemmican, in the Swallows and Amazons series, is 'bully beef' (or tinned corned beef). The explorers choose to call it pemmican as that was a staple food used by many explorers.

The original pemmican originated as a North American native foodstuff which consisted of fat, dried meat and dried berries ground up and mixed. It keeps well and provides a good combination of fat and protein.

• Mother said You will soon get tired of living on corned beef .... Pemmican said Titty ..... Pemmican said the female native. So if I were you I should only open a pemmican tin when you haven’t anything else that you can eat without cooking (SA5).

• When they first see Amazon and decide to follow her John says Let’s have a pemmican day. Then we needn’t wait to cook dinner. Don’t lets wait a minute. A loaf of bread and a tin of pemmican and some apples .... So when they land on Titty's island On the hunks of bread and butter they put hunks of pemmican .... (SA8).

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