The historical past of Beef Jerky

Jerky was first introduced by the South American (Peru) native tribe referred to as Quechua (section of the ancient Inca Empire) in 1550. The product (Ch’arki), was boned and defatted meat (deer, elk, or buffalo) cut into slices and rubbed with salt. This meat was rolled up inside the animal’s hide for 10-12 hours then sun dried or smoked over fires.

In Brazilian, the Native Americans ate sun-dried venison and buffalo called tassajo, which was created using strips of meat dipped in maize flour, sun and wind dried, and after that tightly rolled away into balls. American Cree Indians mixed berries and suet (fat) with pounded cooked meat and pressed into concentrated small cakes for making pemmican.
Biltong came from pioneering South African forefathers who sun dried meat while on a trip across the African subcontinent. Folklore has it that African tribesmen would place strips of venison beneath the saddles in their horses to tenderize and spice the meat! Seasoning had been a combined vinegar, salt, sugar, coriander and other spices.
The Indians and early settlers dried meat primarily from deer, elk or buffalo using salt, whatever spices they’d and sun drying. As being the Spanish arrived, the name evolved to charqui. Most travelers preferred to pound the charqui between large stones and boil it in water before eating. During ocean exploration and colonization, the Spanish sailors stocked the pacific islands with goats. What couldn’t be eaten would then be cut into strips and hung within their ships to air dry. As soon as the Spanish Conquistadors invaded the Americas, they were surprised to find out the natives of North America drying meat at the same time. Soon, the natives adopted the Spanish term, Charqui, only adding their accent; the word “turkey jerky” first came to be.
Us Pioneers would first dry meat by hanging it on the outside of their covered wagon sun drying (2-3 days). Once and for all ended up being develop a scaffold spanning a slow fire and smoke the strips. Although the heat and smoke would complete the procedure by two per day, the smoking method required a stopover; it had not been prior to awareness for disease and germs became prevalent and smoking was crowned norm.
Today turkey jerky is constructed from thin strips of every meat or from ground or chopped and formed meat. Manufacturers spice and dehydrate the item; some introduce smoke or using liquid smoke for flavoring.

For more information about healthy snacks visit our website.

Comments are closed.