Living in the world as we know it today, it is hard to believe that jerky never existed. But for those people living in the 14th Century and earlier in Europe and Asia and the far reaches of the world, the preservation of meat as we know it did not exist.

We now know that there are certain items we need in our diet for our bodies to remain healthy. But as we learned from history, many cultures did not have the food availability in items such as meats, citrus, and fresh vegetables in bulk for everyone or that people could afford to buy.

As many of the sailors found as they traveled around the world exploring, fresh food was a rarity and anything that was considered “fresh” would be eaten quickly. The men existed mainly on hard tack, which is a extremely hard baked biscuit, some bacon or salted pork, if they were lucky and it wasn’t rotted, and oatmeal or porridge. Sometimes currents, raisins and cheese would be available if the rats and maggots did not get to it. Fish was available if there was time to actually catch something. Illness and even death was an issue for many people due to poor food preservation and availability. Just think what some jerky would have done for these guys!

Life before jerky has been a learning process. Over the years, we have learned a lot about how to handle foods and meats for long term preservation, enjoyment and our health. Jerky has developed from the needs learned in history of our past ancestors and we have gotten healthier and are living longer because of the better nutrition.