The quality of meat used during jerky preparation has a great effect on the jerky’s overall texture, flavor, and, most importantly, nutritional benefits. To get the best quality jerky, be it from poultry, beef, or exotic meats, you will need to be very particular about your choice of meat quality.
If the meat is of a lower quality, then the chances of it having unhealthy additives or unwanted fats are quite high. On the other hand, higher-quality premium cuts will leave you with a delectable protein-packed snack.
You can get some premium slices from leading and highly reputable Jerky Brands for guaranteed quality. These cuts tend to strike the right balance between the meat’s fat content and its muscle leanness. The end result is a chewy, flavorful and rather tender jerky snack.
High-quality pieces mean that the meat has an enhanced spice, seasoning and marinade absorption ability, resulting in a flavor-packed jerky delicacy.
In addition to meat quality, the treatment and processing stages also impact the jerky’s overall nutritional profile. Nowadays, consumers have become more conscious of how slaughtered animals are sourced and how their meat is treated and processed.
This is in line with ethical requirements, and is an important step towards embracing sustainable environmental conservation efforts.
Understanding Meat Quality
We can determine the quality of the meat we consume through the application of our God-given senses, namely sight and touch.
You can tell the meat’s quality by feeling its texture between your fingertips, or by taking a look at the meat. Depending on its color (redness or pinkness), you can tell its quality.
There are a couple of chemical factors that we can take into consideration using parameters such as:
- Lactic acid content
- PH
- Water content
- Protein solubility
- Amount of fatty acids
Physical properties, such as meat tenderness, affect the jerky’s eating (consumption) experience. “Consumption experience” is such a big deal when it comes to enjoying quality jerky.
The following factors can affect your consumption experience:
- The animals’ rearing conditions or environment
- The animals’ genetic propensity
- The animals’ nutritional status at the time of production (basically the sourcing).
Bonus point: The trick to ensuring that you end up with top-notch quality jerky, is using leaner meat pieces from animals that have been raised as naturally as possible.
The Role of Meat Quality in Jerky Flavor
Premium meat cuts have a perfect balance when it comes to muscle leanness and fat content. These pieces, naturally, are better when it comes to their flavor absorption.
High-quality meat pieces make the best jerky since they allow increased spice infusion during the curing process. Using high-quality meat also ensures that the jerky is juicy, flaunting a chewable texture that will enhance your ‘consumption experience.’
The Role of Meat Quality in Jerky Texture
The Jerky’s overall texture is determined by the quality of the meat you choose. If the meat is of good quality, then it should not feel squishy or too soft when you touch it. On the other hand, it should not feel too hard to the touch either.
Premium lean cuts have a satisfying and tender chewiness. The marbling contained in high-quality meat maintains a pleasant texture and reduces the meat’s toughness by way of preventing excessive drying.
Meat quality is crucial to meeting the flavor and texture combination that we all seek with every jerky bite we take.
The Role of Meat Quality in Jerky Nutrition
Choosing premium lean cuts during meat processing will definitely guarantee a healthier protein-packed snack. Lean meat has a lower calorie and fat nutritional profile as compared to fatty meat. This makes a great choice for anyone who is on a diet that entails low fat and high protein content.
Be sure to source your top-tier meat cuts from reputable Jerky Brands, where top-notch quality is a guarantee.
The Economic Impact of Meat Quality on Jerky Production
There are many players in the meat production industry whose main focus is high-quality jerky. These individuals are heavy investors. In most cases, they are very particular when it comes to where they source their meat from.
Concurrently, modern-day clients are more inclined to consume high-quality products. Such clients lead to the creation of a unique kind of market. In this market space, there is an increased demand for top-notch quality items and little to no space for items that don’t meet a certain quality threshold.
As producers set premium prices for their high-quality goods, consumers get to enjoy a better quality of life.
In conclusion
During jerky production, you will need to get certain things right if you seek to get the best meat texture, flavor, and health benefits. The impact that the quality of meat has on jerky production is evident. Have you ever made jerky at home? If so, did you use high-quality meat? Leave the comments and let’s discuss it together!
