Drying meat is a beloved culinary tradition that continues to captivate people with its long-lasting qualities and delectable taste. The process involves dehydrating or removing moisture from the meat, resulting in a nutrient-dense and lightweight food option.

Because of these qualities, dried meat has been a popular food choice among various cultures since ancient civilizations, proving a portable and convenient source of sustenance. Aside from its convenience, dried meat provides a wide array of health benefits, making it a nutritious option for people who need a snack packed with protein.

This article will delve into the many health benefits of consuming dried meat, exploring its positive impact on muscle development, weight management, nutritional composition, and overall physical well-being. It will also explore the historical significance of dried meat as a survival food and the fundamental processes involved in producing the popular snack.

What is dried meat?

Commonly known as jerky, dried meat refers to the type of meat that has gone through dehydration. It’s a process that involves removing the majority of its moisture content. Removing water from the meat inhibits the growth of microorganisms that significantly extends the shelf life of the meat.

Since the invention of the first home electric refrigerator was not until the 20th century, various cultures throughout history needed a creative solution to address meat spoilage and scarcity. As a result, drying meat became a popular preservation method, ensuring meat shelf life and a readily available food source for long journeys or periods of scarcity.

The Historical Significance of Dried Meat

The practice of drying meat goes as far back as forty thousand years ago, at the beginning of the Cro-Magnon era. During that period, dried meat was far from the delightful shredded beef jerky snack you know today.

For ancient civilizations like the Native Americans, Mongols, and Egyptians, drying meat was more for preparation and survival rather than producing convenient snacks. As mentioned, drying meat was an essential method for preserving food for extended periods, allowing explorers and nomadic tribes to sustain themselves during harsh winters and long expeditions.

During ancient times, dried meat was particularly favored by travelers and hunters due to its long shelf life and lightweight nature. It provided a concentrated source of essential nutrients, energy, and protein, making it the ideal option for survival in the harshest environments and conditions.

Because of its significance in history, dried meat cemented itself as a culinary tradition millions worldwide can continue to enjoy today.

Traditional Methods of Drying Meat

Producing dried meat entails several steps to ensure proper flavor development and dehydration. While modern technology has introduced faster and more efficient meat drying methods, many individuals who still appreciate the time-honored art of producing dried meat utilize traditional techniques.

While different cultures and individuals have their own variations and recipes for drying meat, they all still follow the fundamental steps. These traditional methods of meat drying involve selection, preparation, slicing, marinating, drying, testing for doneness, and storing.

Meat selection

During the meat selection, it is imperative to select lean cuts of meat, such as turkey, venison, pork, or beef, with minimal fat content. Fat can turn rancid during the drying process, affecting the taste and quality of the final product.

Meat preparation

Meat preparation entails trimming off any connective tissue or visible fat from the meat and then partially freezing the meat for a short time to make it easier to cut uniformly.

Slicing

The slicing process involves cutting the meat against the grain into thin strips. This helps achieve the ideal tender texture in the final product.

Marinating

After cutting the meat into thin and uniform strips, it’s time to prepare the seasoning or marinade blend according to a standard recipe or personal preference. Typical ingredients dried meat producers utilize in their marinades include vinegar, liquid smoke, spices, herbs, natural sweeteners, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.

The person responsible for preparing and measuring the ingredients must then marinate the meat in the mixture overnight or for several hours to infuse the flavors into the meat.

Drying

The next step is the drying process once the marinade adequately infuses its flavors into the meat. The drying process has various traditional methods, including sun drying, air drying, and smoking. 

Sun drying involves hanging or laying out the marinated meat strips under direct sunlight to dry out, similar to leaving wet clothes to dry. This drying method entails a high dependency on the weather conditions that must be dry and warm climates.

Additionally, the sun drying method requires regular protection from insects and monitoring, and it can take from several days to weeks for the meat to thoroughly dehydrate.

The air drying method involves hanging the marinated strips of meat in a well-ventilated location, which is often a cold and dry room. The person in charge of drying the meat leaves it to air dry naturally with the assistance of good air circulation.

Similar to the sun drying method, air drying is a time-consuming process that can take several days to about two weeks to dehydrate the meat thoroughly.

The post The Health Benefits of Dried Meat: A Nutritious and Delicious Snack appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eating meat products anywhere is under fire recently, including fears that humans are destroying the planet for beef. Even poultry products are under increased scrutiny, with all kinds of growth hormones, antibiotics, and even poisons like arsenic being fed to chickens raised in commercial poultry farms. Wost of all, processed meat products people buy in their favorite supermarkets are chock full of questionable ingredients, including the notorious transglutaminase otherwise known as “meat glue”. Read on to consider some very good reasons for buying a whole animal or meat from organic sources. Much “fresh” meat in supermarkets is actually thawed from frozen cuts

Israel’s commercial meat processing industries are also coming under fire, despite the strict dietary or Kasruth food laws  that many Israelis follow as part of their daily lives. The issues surrounding commercial beef and poultry farms and slaughter houses in Israel were featured recently in a very informative and eye-opening feature article in the Haaretz  weekend magazine.

Entitled “Meat your maker: What’s really inside an Israeli steak “ focused on the reality of the meat products industry in this country was revealed in a very graphic and thought provoking way.

The article covered both red meat (mostly beef) and poultry, which Israelis consume in amazing quantities due mainly to price considerations rather than for health reasons.

In regards to beef products, the 1994 Meat and Meat Products Law stipulates that only kosher meat can be imported into Israel. This means that after the kashering process has been done to the meat after slaughter, it arrives in Israel partially dehydrated due to the amount of salt used to rid it of blood.

Water is then added to the meat which often is far more than the 10 percent allowed by law (sometimes as much as 40 to 50 percent, according to the article).

Frozen beef is often sold in supermarkets as fresh cuts, as revealed in a previous Green Prophet article written almost two years ago.  Mind you, all of these issues come even before talking about ones as adding all types of antibiotics, hormones and other additives into cattle food while the beasts are being fattened for slaughter. The use of the previously mentioned meat glue was not mentioned in the Haaretz article, but other types of flavor and texture enhances were, as said by Keren Hod, a clinical dietician:

“The substances involved include fillers (water, vegetable protein ), thickening and stabilizing agents (phosphates, gelatin, cellulose), leavening agents (sodium bicarbonate, yeast) and processed starches (monosodium glutamate, spices ). Accordingly, it’s worth taking note of the two words ‘water added’ on packaged meat.”

Chickens  make up the bulk of meat Israelis eat and are divided into two main categories: the type raised in cages in commercial poultry farms and “free running” or organic ones which are fed less growth stimulants and (supposedly) no antibiotics.

The growth stimulants and other concoctions fed to cage raised chickens result in  their reaching full growth of around 2 kg  in only 38 days as compared to over 50 days for free running fowl.

According to the article, the use of antibiotics in poultry raising has been banned by many countries, including most EU countries, Australia and New Zealand. This also holds true for pesticides such as arsenic, which were used to rid the poultry of various parasites.

The anti-parasitic additive known as roxarsone which contains arsenic is still being marketed to poultry growers, while the Israel Agricultural Ministry “preferred the stand taken by the farmers who were guided by economic considerations.”

Toxic metals, especially cadmium, are found in high quantities in commercial poultry feed as well.

Although turkeys are raised in large numbers, they are still not as preferred like chickens. That doesn’t mean these larger foul are healthier, however, as they are also fed large quantities of hormones and other growth stimulants as well as other questionable ingredients.

Both cattle and poultry have often been given feed composed of “organic remains” of animals, which often include feces or “poop” to put it more bluntly.

Organic chickens are required to be fed food made form organic grains, which result in their meet being much more expensive for consumers: NIS 38 per kg as compared to prices as low as NIS 9 per kilogram for commercially raised foul sold in large supermarket chains.

The brutal treatment that animals receive during their wretched lives is another matter, however. Specifically mentioned were cattle raised in commercial “feed lots” where overcrowding and filthy conditions are often the norm. We talked about this in the article on swine farms where pig abuse is rampant.

The bottom line to this story appears to be the profit motive of raising “factory farm” animals instead of those raised on organic food and kept in more sanitary conditions: “The supermarket expects to make a profit of 30% on my chickens,” an organic poultry grower told the Haaretz reporter. This is why his products cost so much more.

Judging from what is usually seen at  supermarket meat counters, most consumers appear to pass up the more expensive natural brands for the cheaper chemical laced ones, poop and arsenic and all.

Word of caution: if these atrocities are happening in Israel where the government is fairly authoritative we wonder what can possibly be happening in other Middle Eastern countries with little regulation over meat.

More about commercial meal issues in Israel and elsewhere:
Arsenic Fed Chickens – Watch Out!
The Meat You Eat May Not be What You think
Meat glue: Is Anybody talking About It?
Pig Abuse Rampant in Kosher Israel

Chicken Farm in Taiwan from Shutterstock

The post Israeli Meat Fed With Feces and Pumped With Toxic Contaminants appeared first on Green Prophet.

Men may be from Mars, but women are the greener creatures, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Women in industrialized countries buy most of the eco-friendly household products.  Women also load up on organic foods. They recycle more and have greater interest in energy-efficient appliances, according to OECD surveys. Israel and Turkey are the only Middle East members of the OECD. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research Press indicates women are more willing than men to pay higher income taxes and gasoline prices when the funds are used to support environmental protection.

Eight years of Gallup polls suggest females have greater knowledge of the science behind climate change. They’re more concerned about environmental risks to health, particularly on a local level, and give stronger support to environmental crusaders.

Of course, these stats don’t prove women are hyper-conscious of ecological issues, it’s just that their actions lean to green.

Our choices are often made absent consideration of associated environmental impacts. Sleepwalking through decisions about our diet and transportation can result in significantly nasty impacts.

Not to wade too deep into the seas of stereotype (I say as I stereotype), but women worldwide have less effect on the atmosphere in part because they drive less, fly less, eat less, and fart less. The meat industry generates enormous greenhouse gas emissions, and men eat more meat.

These behavioral truisms widen the green gender gap in the Middle East, where economics, culture, and religion further differentiate how the sexes live their daily lives. And don’t forget there are more men than women on the planet.

Auto industry data show men buy trucks and cars and sport utility vehicles that consistently rank among the lowest-mileage vehicles on the road.

Have you ever seen a Prius commercial during a Super Bowl?

OK, so we know men have bigger feet. Carnegie Mellon University researchers say the average carbon footprint for a single American man is 32 tons annually, compared with 30 tons for his female counterpart, mainly due to driving habits. European studies draw similar conclusions.

These differences seep into politics. Environmental issues fuel a growing gender gap between Democrats and Republicans (GOP) in America: the Pew Research Center for People and the Press reports that women have consistently been moving away from the GOP for the past three decades.

This year’s presidential campaign is giving eco-savvy women added incentive to switch teams, especially when Republican presidential candidates trip over flashpoint issues. Newt Gingrich declared the Kyoto Protocol as “bad for the environment and bad for America” and Rick Santorum declared global warming a “hoax”.  Surely, environmental issues color politics in other democratic nations too.

In this X-Factor era, silly competition makes for idle amusement. “Us versus them” when it comes to environmental behavior is also a no-benefit distraction.

A hundred years ago, an  American scientist, ecologist, forester and environmentalist named Aldo Leopold proposed that mankind (that includes boys AND girls) learn to expand human relationships to include “relationships with the land”.  He urged us to adopt  “a land ethic that changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the land to a plain member and citizen of it”.

Leopold’s philosophy was amplified by subsequent environmental pioneers like Rachel Carson and Bill McKibbon.  Green Prophet’s brought you artist Jason deCaires Taylor who incorporates this ideal in his underwater sculpture parks, teaching tourists to view beaches as living ecosystems, and not just wallpaper to some kick-back fun in the sun. There are legions of others teaching smarter ways of green living.

Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice.  Stop looking for differences and let’s all treat the world nice.

Image of green woman from Shutterstock

The post Are Women The Globe’s Green Giants? appeared first on Green Prophet.

What exactly is in Soup No. 5 or Soup #5, a soup made from bull’s testes or penis. The dish originates from Filipino cuisine. It is believed to have aphrodisiac properties. People around the world eat the penises of bulls, sheep, and goats, without a quiver.

Keeping to the theme of eating all the animal that began with our post on lamb’s testicles, we now present our readers with another idea to get used to. Penis meat is eaten and enjoyed in the Middle East, Latin America, and the Far East as an ordinary meat and as a boost to virility.

Farmer’s home-made sausages may include sheep, goat, or steer penis.  Each species’s penis has its own flavor. It stays a little rubbery even after long cooking, though.

Bull Penis Stew Recipe

Our researches haven’t turned up the truth about supposed Eastern European penis stew, but there are recipes from Bolivia and China.

The one recipe circulating around the Internet was taken word for word from a small out-of-print collection of Yemenite recipes, Yemenite and Sabra Cookery, by Naomi and Shimon Tzabar. The Bull Penis recipe goes like this:

1 pound of penis, ram’s or bull’s
3 tbls. oil
1 large chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Scald the penis, then drain and clean.
Place the penis in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil.
Remove any scum, then simmer for 10 minutes.
Drain and slice.
Heat the oil in a large skillet.
Add the onion, garlic, and coriander and fry until the onion is golden.
Add the penis slices and fry on both sides for a few minutes.
Stir in the remaining ingredients with a good grinding of pepper, add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours, or until tender.
Add a little water from time to time if necessary to prevent burning.

Cleaning urine from the penis

Most Westerners don’t know how to clean penis for cooking. The following video from the National Geographic Society makes that clear: the cook slits it open, removes the urethra, and rinses the meat several times under running water to remove any trace of urine.

Hard to swallow the idea? It’s understandable. A study titled Udders, Penises, and Testicles by Robert Rotenberg and published in the 2008 Ethnology (links to PDF) magazine says why:

“…udders, penises and testicles are difficult to separate from the self and hence persistently problematic as foods. …The similarity renders them as self, instead of as foods.”

True. Every man we’ve spoken to about penis as food has crossed his legs.

More Middle-Eastern food:

• Kibbeh recipe
• Baba Ganoush recipe

Yemenite & Sabra Cookery, by Naomi and Shimon Tzabar, Sadan Publishing, 1979, ISBN 965-234-001-4.

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