Jerky is a lean meat food that is trimmed of extra fat, cut into strips, and dried to avoid spoilage. Usually, this drying consists of the inclusion of salt, to avoid bacteria from forming on the meats before sufficient wetness has been removed. The term “jerky” produced from the Quechua term ch’arki this means “dried, salted meat”. All that is required to create basic “jerky” is really a low-temperature drying technique, and salt to inhibit bacterial development.

Modern manufactured jerky is generally marinated in a practiced spice rub or liquid, and dried, dehydrated or smoked with low temperature. Some product producers finely grind meat, blend in seasonings, and push the meat-paste into smooth shapes ahead of drying.

The resulting jerky from the aforementioned methods will be a salty and/or savory snack. However, ordinarily a sweet or semi-nice recipe can be used, with sugar being truly a major ingredient (as opposed to biltong that is a dried meat item that employs the acid in vinegar instead of salt to inhibit bacterial development when drying the meats). Jerky is ready-to-eat and demands no additional preparation. It could be stored for weeks without refrigeration. Once the protein to moisture content material ratio is appropriate, the resulting meats is preserved.