Hiking food.

[Heeresbergführer]

Grüß Di' Reno Kid,

Here's a period Knorr ad from a 1933 Swiss Alpine Club magazine "Die Alpen."






Horrido!

Patrick

I probably should just start a new thread, but this fits here, so I'm resurrecting this one...

In several old hiking/expedition/outfitting publications dating from the 1880s thru the 1920s I've seen references to something called "Erbswurst," an item highly recommended for provisioning (literal translation: "pea sausage"). I didn't have a clue what it was and so I just assumed it was another of those things lost to the mists of time. Well, Mrs. Reno Kid and I re-located to Germany a few months ago. We were in a local store last weekend and I spotted a sausage shaped package in the Knorr soup aisle labeled "Erbswurst." It was only about €1.25 (about $1.66), so I bought one.

Intrigued, I started doing a bit of research. It is indeed the same stuff that I had read about in the old books. Knorr has been making it since 1889, when they bought the production rights from the original manufacturer. It was originally invented(?) in the 1860s as a field ration for German soldiers. A lot of troops lived on not much more than Erbswurst and brown bread for the a lot of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. In fact, it was a standard field ration until the 1950s or 60s. It appears that the packaging hasn't even changed much in the last hundred years. It comes in two varieties--green and yellow. I've read that the only difference is the color of the peas used.

View attachment 3728

So what is it? Basically, it's pea soup with tiny bits of de-fatted bacon and spices for flavor. When you open the package, it contains six tablets of compressed, dry pea soup. You crush a tablet in a suitable cooking cup or pot and add 1/4 liter (a little more than one cup, U.S.) cold water, and heat to boiling. In about three minutes, you have a thick and surprisingly filling pea soup. I finally got around to trying it today for lunch and it's actually pretty good. It's not the best pea soup I've ever had but it's not the worst, either. I tried the green variety. After a long walk on a crisp day on the trail, this would be pretty good eating. Of course, it has an expiration date like everything else, but at least one of the old books said it lasts virtually forever. To paraphrase the author, "...after three years, it will taste no worse that it does today--it won't taste any better but it won't taste worse." Anyway, I will be adding it to my trail rations. I don't know how easy it is to get outside Germany, but it would be worth looking for.

 

[DavidJones]

Knorr Erbwurst can still be obtained today. I have ordered it from online German grocers, as well as from Ebay. I use it for long weekend hiking trips and backpacking.

 

[Stanley Doble]

A traditional food of voyageurs and arctic explorers is Pemmican. From The Canadian Encyclopedia

"Pemmican [Cree pimikan, meaning "manufactured grease"] is dried meat, usually BISON, pounded into coarse powder and mixed with an equal amount of melted fat, and occasionally saskatoon berries or other edibles. Cooled and sewn into bison-hide bags in 41 kg lots, pemmican could be stored and shipped with ease to provision FUR-TRADE personnel. Peter POND is credited with introducing this vital food to the trade in 1779, having obtained it from the CHIPEWYANS in the Athabasca region. Later, posts along the Red, Assiniboine and north Saskatchewan rivers were devoted to acquiring pemmican from the Plains Indians and MÉTIS. Pemmican was also made and used outside the region, eg, by the Royal Navy, which provisioned several arctic expeditions with beef pemmican made in England. "

Especially good for hard working travellers in cold climates, like voyageurs paddling a canoe 8 hours a day.

If you want to try it there are recipes on the net. Basically dried beef ground up and mixed with animal fat. You can add dried fruit, salt , pepper and spices if you like.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Sound`s like it would constipate you.

 

[dh66]

Sound`s like it would constipate you.

Personally, when I'm in poison ivy and poison snake territory I like to keep my pants up as much as possible anyway.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hunter_aka_Scotty]

http://reprorations.com < There's the link for Repro Rations.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

I take a mix of plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and dried milk powder. Added to enough water to make a "flappy" dough, this is a mixture for Irish soda bread.

No oven needed* this bread can be cooked in a pan or on a griddle and it will rise all on its own. You can add fruit or syrup/molasses for a sweet bread, or chillies/herbs/spices for something savoury.... Or just leave it plain. It's a really simply, basically leavened bread mixture.


* it can be baked in an oven which gives a very different, hard, crust.

 

[Renault]

Almost but not quite like bannock bread! Wife used to always make soda bread.

While on the subject, my young son always makes up a big batch of biltong when we are getting ready for a trip to the woods. Beef, venison, elk, nilgai, we've eaten it all. I much prefer it over standard jerky. Much easier on my ancient and abused choppers!

 

[green papaya]

dried fruits & nuts, bottled water, burittos, brownies, crackers, cookies, grapes

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

I heard some of them had eaten a soup made of prunes, garlic and onions.


Trader Joe's makes a cookie called Druids. They are oatmeal and walnut cookies made with whole wheat flour. They're soft and chunky and fills you up really well.

 

[Renault]

Actually those Druids sound pretty good!

 

[DavidJones]

I'm going to have to look for those Druid cookies next time i'm at Trader Joe's

 

[Macbeth]

Hawk's Vittles makes some magnificent freeze dried gourmet foods!! Very affordable too.
I don't usually eat dried food but this guy is a chef that makes his own. Never found anything better.

 

[Tomtheantiquarian]

A traditional food of voyageurs and arctic explorers is Pemmican. From The Canadian Encyclopedia

"Pemmican [Cree pimikan, meaning "manufactured grease"] is dried meat, usually BISON, pounded into coarse powder and mixed with an equal amount of melted fat, and occasionally saskatoon berries or other edibles. Cooled and sewn into bison-hide bags in 41 kg lots, pemmican could be stored and shipped with ease to provision FUR-TRADE personnel. Peter POND is credited with introducing this vital food to the trade in 1779, having obtained it from the CHIPEWYANS in the Athabasca region. Later, posts along the Red, Assiniboine and north Saskatchewan rivers were devoted to acquiring pemmican from the Plains Indians and MÉTIS. Pemmican was also made and used outside the region, eg, by the Royal Navy, which provisioned several arctic expeditions with beef pemmican made in England. "

Especially good for hard working travellers in cold climates, like voyageurs paddling a canoe 8 hours a day.

If you want to try it there are recipes on the net. Basically dried beef ground up and mixed with animal fat. You can add dried fruit, salt , pepper and spices if you like.

Fresh pemmican is available online in several different variations. The same purveyor sells beef and lamb tallow for those who wish to make their own. I disovered this from a Wikipedia article which mentions it, but does not link it. Amazon has products called pemmican; however, they contain no animal fat. I did find what looks to be a reasonable recipe so I'll append a link to it as well.

Bradford Angier, wilderness survival writer of yesteryear, discusses it and recommends it. His books are useful for the wilderness traveler who eschews modern synthetics in favor of wool, and who prefer a better time in general. His books are mostly still in print.

Tallow itself makes a useful food. In Two Years Before the Mast, Charles Dana mentions the fondness of Russian sailors for straight tallow.

My mother told me of eating pemmican at, of all places, the Canadian Pacific Hotel in Banff. It seems that a rather flamboyant remittance man who had spent some time in the bush decided to provide a treat for the hotel guests. He had the staff make the pemmican while he supervised. This was probably about 1925.

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/Categories.bok?category=Paleo+Favorites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemmican

http://historicaltrekking.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=403&sid=c3a4cb8fbe056d6b5723c0dd650d7e96

http://smile.amazon.com/How-Stay-Al...+survive+in+the+wilderness&pebp=1418960372802

 

[Stanley Doble]

For traditional fare try Purity products from Newfoundland Canada. Sailors, fishermen and travelers in the Canadian arctic and maritime provinces still use hard tack, pilot biscuits, dried fish and other staples. This is where they get them.

http://www.purity.nf.ca/

 

[Trenchfriend]

I probably should just start a new thread, but this fits here, so I'm resurrecting this one...

In several old hiking/expedition/outfitting publications dating from the 1880s thru the 1920s I've seen references to something called "Erbswurst," an item highly recommended for provisioning (literal translation: "pea sausage"). I didn't have a clue what it was and so I just assumed it was another of those things lost to the mists of time. Well, Mrs. Reno Kid and I re-located to Germany a few months ago. We were in a local store last weekend and I spotted a sausage shaped package in the Knorr soup aisle labeled "Erbswurst." It was only about €1.25 (about $1.66), so I bought one.

Intrigued, I started doing a bit of research. It is indeed the same stuff that I had read about in the old books. Knorr has been making it since 1889, when they bought the production rights from the original manufacturer. It was originally invented(?) in the 1860s as a field ration for German soldiers. A lot of troops lived on not much more than Erbswurst and brown bread for the a lot of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. In fact, it was a standard field ration until the 1950s or 60s. It appears that the packaging hasn't even changed much in the last hundred years. It comes in two varieties--green and yellow. I've read that the only difference is the color of the peas used.

View attachment 3728

So what is it? Basically, it's pea soup with tiny bits of de-fatted bacon and spices for flavor. When you open the package, it contains six tablets of compressed, dry pea soup. You crush a tablet in a suitable cooking cup or pot and add 1/4 liter (a little more than one cup, U.S.) cold water, and heat to boiling. In about three minutes, you have a thick and surprisingly filling pea soup. I finally got around to trying it today for lunch and it's actually pretty good. It's not the best pea soup I've ever had but it's not the worst, either. I tried the green variety. After a long walk on a crisp day on the trail, this would be pretty good eating. Of course, it has an expiration date like everything else, but at least one of the old books said it lasts virtually forever. To paraphrase the author, "...after three years, it will taste no worse that it does today--it won't taste any better but it won't taste worse." Anyway, I will be adding it to my trail rations. I don't know how easy it is to get outside Germany, but it would be worth looking for.

Erbswurst is still in production.
If I will see it one day in a supermarket, I will grab it. I like to test it, believe me!

 

[DavidJones]

Yes, I have bought Erbswurst from E bay. Great stuff to have in your kit when you need a hot soup brew up on a cold days hike.

 

[The Reno Kid]

Yes, I have bought Erbswurst from E bay. Great stuff to have in your kit when you need a hot soup brew up on a cold days hike.

Since my original post, I have realized that Erbswurst is a standard item in most German grocery stores...

 

[Trenchfriend]

Since my original post, I have realized that Erbswurst is a standard item in most German grocery stores...

It's a standard-item, yes. But not available in the most supermarkets. Usually, only the big supermarkets got it.

 

[greatestescaper]

This thread reminded me that historically folks in the late 19th century canned just about everything they could think of. A local museum curator was going through old collections when he stumbled across the worst smell of his life. A can of pressed chicken from the late 1880s had opened. That's right. The whole chicken, the feet, the head, and everything in between pressed and canned. It must have been horrible even when it was fresh.

There seem to be great ideas here. I've been helping a friend with some field work in a very remote region of West Texas. We're out where there's little more than rattlesnakes and buzzards, on the far reaches of the Big Bend National Park. The staple food for us is dried sausage, bread, hard cheese, and at least a gallon of water per person.