Its title comes from the Quechua phrase “ch’arki,” which suggests dried, salted meat.
Beef jerky is constituted of lean cuts of beef which might be marinated with numerous sauces, spices, and different components. It then undergoes numerous processing strategies, equivalent to curing, smoking, and drying, earlier than its packaged on the market (1).
As a result of jerky is taken into account a snack meals, many individuals ponder whether it’s a wholesome or unhealthy possibility.
This text evaluations whether or not beef jerky is nice for you.
Diet and potential advantages
Usually talking, beef jerky is a wholesome and nutritious snack.
One ounce (28 grams) of beef jerky incorporates the next vitamins (2):
It additionally gives small quantities of manganese, molybdenum, and pantothenic acid.
Provided that it’s excessive in protein and low in carbs, it has a more healthy dietary composition than many different snack meals and is appropriate for numerous diets, equivalent to low carb and paleo diets.
It’s additionally excessive in numerous minerals, together with zinc and iron, that are essential for a lot of features, together with immune and vitality stage assist (3, 4).
What’s extra, beef jerky has an extended shelf life and may be very moveable, which makes it an important possibility for journey, backpacking, and different conditions by which you have got restricted entry to contemporary meals and wish a protein hit.
Downsides of beef jerky
Although beef jerky is a nutritious snack, it ought to be consumed carefully.
It’s very excessive in sodium, with a 1-ounce (28-gram) serving offering roughly 22% of your each day sodium allowance, which is ready at 2,300 mg per day (5).
Extreme sodium consumption might hurt a number of facets of your well being, together with coronary heart well being, blood strain, and stroke danger (2, 6).
That additionally makes it unsuitable for sure diets that limit sodium consumption (7).
Moreover, beef jerky is very processed. Quite a few research have proven a connection between diets excessive in processed and cured pink meats like beef jerky and the next danger of cancers, equivalent to gastrointestinal cancers (8).
As well as, a current examine discovered that dried, cured meats like beef jerky could also be contaminated with poisonous substances known as mycotoxins, that are produced by fungi that develop on meat. Analysis has linked mycotoxins to most cancers (9).
Briefly, although beef jerky is a wholesome snack, its finest consumed carefully. Most of your weight loss program ought to come from complete, unprocessed meals.
The best way to make beef jerky at dwelling
It’s not tough to make your individual beef jerky at dwelling.
Doing so can be a great way to regulate all of the elements, particularly sodium.
To make beef jerky at dwelling, merely use a lean reduce of beef, equivalent to prime spherical, eye of spherical, backside spherical, sirloin tip, or flank steak, and slice the meat into skinny slices.
After slicing, marinade the meat in herbs, spices, and sauces of your alternative. Afterward, pat the jerky strips dry to take away any extra marinade and place them in a meat dehydrator at 155–165°F (68–74°C) for roughly 4–5 hours — relying on the meat’s thickness.
In case you don’t have a dehydrator, you’ll be able to obtain related outcomes utilizing an oven at a low temperature — roughly 140–170°F (60–75°C) for 4–5 hours.
What’s extra, it’s a good suggestion to let the meat jerky dehydrate additional at room temperature for an extra 24 hours earlier than you bundle it. It might be finest to freeze jerky in case you are not going to eat it inside 1 week or so.
The underside line
Beef jerky is a superb snack meals that’s excessive in protein and a great supply of varied minerals, together with zinc and iron.
Nevertheless, store-bought varieties are excessive in sodium and could also be related to different dangers, so it’s finest consumed carefully as a part of a diverse weight loss program.
That stated, making your individual jerky is easy and will help management its sodium content material.
– “protein jerky”
“protein jerky”