While it does put a hurting on your wallet, it also ensures that beef jerky manufacturers maintain higher standards of quality and safety. This is the case because beef jerky makers need to justify the high cost of their product, and they know it. Poor-quality beef jerky is dry, hard as a rock, and devoid of the rich taste of beef. However, even this poor-quality beef jerky is relatively expensive to make.
Thus, it becomes more cost-effective to make high-quality jerky and charge a little more. Table of Contents show. Cows Are Expensive. Land Is Expensive. Government Regulations. Shipping Costs. QUOTE: "You might be a redneck if you think that beef jerky and moon pies are two of the major food groups. Related Posts. About The Author. Charles Joseph In , a good friend introduced me to the most amazing beef jerky I had ever tasted.
It was from a guy in Thailand that he had met while living there. And although I've been eating jerky since as far back as I could remember, I was blown away by the flavor! Although every recipe for every flavor is different. The best beef jerky is not only made with the best expensive premium cuts of American beef, but also with the best marinade ingredients and recipes. The flavor remains, but the costly marinade gets thrown away from every batch.
Most consumers can relate because over the years, even the cost of ground beef at your local supermarket has risen much faster than inflation. Most small batch, minimally processed jerky is incredibly labor intensive to make. And the cost of labor keeps rising. In California, the minimum wage has increased two years in a row with more increases coming.
It takes a lot of highly-trained people to make even one batch of finished jerky. Making really good beef jerky is an art. Ingredients for jerky marinades come from all over the world. There are no short cuts for quality ingredients and over the years as the desire for complex flavor infusion becomes more desirable, the costs for ingredients keeps rising. There is no such thing as cheap jerky production. Packaging, shipping, transportation, shipping supplies, insurance, marketing materials, displays and promotional supplies, advertising, sales staff, social media marketing, quality assurance, new product development, office and warehouse expenses, customer service… the list of expenses is endless, but well-worth the deliciousness that follows.
High-quality beef jerky recipes require high-quality ingredients. The higher the quality of the ingredients, the higher the price. There are certain steps in the beef jerky making process that are uniquely labor-intensive. While food technology and automatic machinery can optimize specific steps of the jerky making process for example, an automatic slicer is more efficient and exact than hand-slicing , there are certain steps that require the human touch.
One such step is the process of laying the marinated jerky onto stainless steel screens. It is our way of preserving tradition, remembering our history, and ensuring the highest quality product. Simply put, things are done better by hand. Certain aspects of beef jerky production require manual labor and therefore increases overall product costs.
To hit the critical control points of time and temperature to ensure a safe and wholesome product, a batch of jerky has to be cooked for an extended period of time.
This process can range from two to six hours depending on the thickness of the meat and temperature of the oven. Beef jerky requires extended cooking times to ensure a properly dehydrated end jerky product. The longer the cooking time, the more expensive the jerky.
The most critical factor driving the high cost of beef jerky is the result of the dehydration and cooking process. The process of removing moisture is the critical factor in transforming raw meat into a shelf-stable, ready-to-eat jerky snack. Hence, the name dried meat. In other words, it can take between pounds of raw meat to get 1 pound of finished jerky.
This is the reason many producers will pack their jerky products full of additives and artificial ingredients — to get some weight back and drive their cost down. This fact reinforces the importance of checking the ingredient statements on your favorite jerky. Some producers will pack their recipe with artificial ingredients, additives, and sugar. We do things a little differently. Finally, many beef jerky companies use a lot of additives, such as preservatives and fillers. All of these extra chemicals and ingredients raise the price of low-quality beef jerky, as they increase production costs.
So, why is beef jerky so expensive? A whole host of reasons. But as we said before, great things come in small packages… and quality beef jerky really is worth its weight in gold. Your email address will not be published.
0コメント