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Move over, potato chips! Jerky is the fastest-growing segment of the snack food industry, growing rapidly in the last five years and running a close second to potato chips as America’s No. 1 snack.

Approximately 160 million Americans, just slightly less than half of the U.S. population, are now consuming meat snacks and beef jerky on a regular basis. Jerky enthusiasts, hikers, protein-obsessed dieters and the exercise crowd — including bodybuilders — can’t seem to get enough of the stuff. It remains a popular snack among cowboys, soldiers — and astronauts, too.

What began as a survival food has now become a convenient pleasure food, a snack that also offers nutritional sustenance.

Protein-packed jerky is as nutrient-dense, convenient, long-lasting and portable today as it was when Kansas Plains indigenous tribes preserved their excess buffalo meat by cutting it into strips and drying it in the sun.

Meta Newell West PRODUCTION FLOOR: While all independent jerky makers have their own specific recipes and production specifications, many look to larger processing and packing facilities to co-pack their products. These fully equipped plants, like Krehbiels Specialty Meats Inc., McPherson, Kan., are USDA-inspected, allowing meats produced on-site to be legally sold in-state as well as across state lines. Here, Zach Krehbiel, plant manager, shows the all-in-one smoker and dehydrator.

PRODUCTION FLOOR: While all independent jerky makers have their own specific recipes and production specifications, many look to larger processing and packing facilities to co-pack their products. These fully equipped plants, like Krehbiels Specialty Meats Inc., McPherson, Kan., are USDA-inspected, allowing meats produced on-site to be legally sold in-state as well as across state lines. Here, Zach Krehbiel, plant manager, shows the all-in-one smoker and dehydrator.

For the indigenous people, jerky making meant survival. Preserving and storing meat allowed them access to high-protein food during periods of scarcity. As traders, explorers, and settlers learned to make jerky, they quickly understood its life-saving qualities and the convenience of using what was available.

As the industrial age approached, many companies began mass-producing jerky, and they continued to dominate the market for years. That is, until recently.

Since Kansas ranks third in beef production it’s only logical that jerky-makers have cropped up across the state. While more and more farmers and ranchers are turning their beef into this value-packed product, established independent businesses have developed loyal customer bases both within the state and beyond.

While all independent jerky makers have their own specific recipes and production specifications, many look to larger processing and packing facilities to co-pack their products. These fully equipped plants are USDA-inspected, allowing meats produced on-site to be legally sold in-state as well as across state lines

One such packing and processing plant is Krehbiels Specialty Meats Inc. in McPherson, Kan.

Meta Newell West RETAIL POPULARITY: Americans love their snack foods, and jerkies are quickly gaining popularity among those following high-protein diets. Kansas jerky makers are capitalizing on that popularity, rolling out unique flavors to entice customers to buy.

RETAIL POPULARITY: Americans love their snack foods, and jerkies are quickly gaining popularity among those following high-protein diets. Kansas jerky makers are capitalizing on that popularity, rolling out unique flavors to entice customers to buy.

According to plant manager Zach Krehbiel, they co-pack for about 20 independents.

Traditionally jerky is sliced, but another popular style is known as ground or chopped, and formed. As the name implies, the meat is ground and then formed into flat, strip-like pieces for drying. Some jerky-makers also market smaller pieces of jerky, selling it as bite-size bits ready to pop into the mouth. Beef jerky takes the lead in Kansas, but jerky can be made from nearly every animal protein.

Krehbiel outlined the process of making sliced beef jerky (technically referred to as whole-muscle jerky) from start to finish.

1. Trim most of the fat. Start by trimming most of the fat, since fat causes jerky to spoil. Krehbiel says they leave about 1% fat to add flavor.

2. Slice it. Slicing the meat has as much to do with your final product as your flavorings. Should you slice it thick or thin? Slicing the beef thin generally yields a product that is harder and drier than thicker cuts. Should you slice across, or with the grain? Slicing across the grain produces easier-to-chew jerky that is easily torn, while cutting with the grain creates a stringier product with more chew.

3. Add your flavor. Much like a dry rub, seasonings are applied to the surface of the beef, while the liquids used in marinating infuse flavors throughout the meat.

4. Preserve your product. Krehbiel points out that preservation methods control both the bacterial and microbial growth in meats. This can be achieved by curing, using chemicals and additives, including nitrates; or by relying on natural salts and flavorings — where the resulting jerky is referred to as naturally cured, or sometimes as uncured.

5. Take out that water. Meat strips are placed in the smoker or dehydrator, spaced to allow enough room between pieces for maximum airflow. Krehbiel described their on-site smokehouse as an all-in-one smoker-dehydrator. Computer-controlled, it can be regulated to cook, smoke or dry, using temperatures and times that are specific to each independent jerky-maker, while meeting USDA regulations.

6. Package your product. Krehbiels Specialty Meats uses gas-flushed packaging that involves blasting nitrogen gas into the pouch after product filling and before bag sealing to displace ambient oxygen. Although designed to keep jerky at its peak, Krehbiel does warn that packages should be kept out of direct sunlight.

Who makes flavors like Dill Pickle or Cajun? What’s responsible for the crunch in Kansas Crunch? What’s popcorn jerky? Whose jerky is infused with Kansas-produced beer and honey? But, most importantly, which ones best suit your tastes for the best-ever jerky?  

Meta Newell West DIRECT TO CONSUMER: Primal Beef Jerky, Hutchinson, has found success in marketing its jerky direct to consumers at farmers markets and festivals, like this booth at the Wamego Tulip Festival. Many jerky businesses have started out small and have grown their markets this way.

DIRECT TO CONSUMER: Primal Beef Jerky, Hutchinson, has found success in marketing its jerky direct to consumers at farmers markets and festivals, like this booth at the Wamego Tulip Festival. Many jerky businesses have started out small and have grown their markets this way.

A look at some of the jerky-makers in Kansas sreveal the unique qualities of each of their products.

Newell West lives in Abilene, Kan., but grew up on a farm in Stafford County, Kan. A career educator, she taught home economics and family and consumer sciences at the secondary and adult levels. She continues to pursue educational endeavors as a freelance writer.

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