Pemmican Beef Jerky

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Jerky is meat that has been cut into strips, trimmed of fat, marinated in a seasoned sweet rub or liquid, and dried or smoked with low heat (usually under 70 C/160 F) or is occasionally just salted and sun-dried. The result is a sweet (occasionally semisweet or savory) snack which can be eaten immediately, or which can be stored for months without refrigeration. The word “jerky” comes from the Quechua term charqui, which means to burn (meat). Jerked meat was one of the first human-made products and was a crucially important food preservation technique for survival. There are many products in the marketplace which are sold as jerky which consist of highly processed, chopped and formed meat, rather than traditional sliced, whole muscle meat. These products may contain more fat, but moisture content, like the whole muscle product, must meet a 0.75 to 1 moisture to protein ratio in the US. Chemical preservatives can be used to prevent oxidative spoilage, but the moisture to protein ratio prevents microbial spoilage by low water activity. Many Jerky products are very high in sugar and are therefore very sweet, unlike Biltong, which rarely contains added sugars.