Jerk

Portraying jerky — typically beef that is marinated, dried, smoked and then cooked — as a good-for-you snack seems like more work than it’s worth, but some food makers and retailers are giving it a whirl. Across the country, health-food stores are stocking up on so-called healthy jerky, low in fat and nitrates. Jerky Emporium in Oklahoma City has introduced “nutritional” jerky made from alligator or kangaroo (sales of the healthy jerky there have risen nearly 20% in the past year alone). The Beef Jerky Store in Las Vegas is selling a raft of new “health-oriented” jerky from ostrich to octopus, while the Whole Foods Market in Beverly Hills, Calif., now carries a soy-based vegan jerky.

It’s another side effect of the Atkins and South Beach diets, which have turned Americans into obsessive carbohydrate counters. In Phoenix, retired military officer Debbie Horgan sends jerky as presents to her carb-phobic friends. “At times it’s a challenge to eat another hard-boiled egg,” she says.

While dried meat might seem like a source of protein, nutritionists such as Lauren Slayton of Foodtrainers in New York advise customers to read labels carefully, since some jerky may contain corn syrup and sugar. While most have less than three grams of fat and 70 calories per serving, an all-natural, sugar-free jerky has no fat and roughly 35 calories. A jerky made with corn syrup and other additives might have six grams of sugar. Not only that, but healthy jerky is more expensive (as much as $9.50 for a four-ounce bag) than the regular kind ($5.75 for the same size).

Beef jerky, of course, has been around since the cave men, and Native Americans later preserved buffalo meat by smoking it in their tepees. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that jerky went gourmet, with manufacturers and chefs drying it and marinating it with fancy spices. Prime Grill, a kosher and Atkins-friendly steakhouse in Miami and New York, serves marinated beef jerky as an appetizer. Retailers such as House of Jerky in Marietta, Calif., are marketing jerky to schools so that kids get protein at lunch. “I’d rather see a child eat a piece of jerky than a candy bar,” says Ron Hargett, owner of House of Jerky. [WSJ]