Low salt jerky?


 
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I have a family member who is going through another round of chemotherapy next month and needs to gain some weight. He also has high blood pressure. He really likes beef jerky, but I am afraid that all the salt from store bought jerky is going to elevate his blood pressure, so I have offered to make him some low salt jerky. A quick search on google found little of promise.

I have some Morton Tenderquick, so one option would be to alter some common recipes by reducing the regular salt and just use limited amounts of Morton TQ.

He likes teriyaki, so I was thinking about a low salt soy sauce, sake, and mirin combination. With such a recipe, how low can one go with the cooker and still be safe?
 
I was thinking I would start a minion start with a very small amount of charcoal, maybe 5 briquettes, and just let the cooker rise slowly up to 150 or so. Do you think I should go higher, say 200?
 
There is no need to go higher so I wouldn't. It is best to prolong the drying phase so that the jerky dries evenly and well. You want a result of no more than 10% moisture. A TQ addition adds an extra measure of safety but it's the drying that makes jerky safe. You could go with the TQ and skip the salt as you're planning on soy if you wish.
 
Being a Diabetic they sent me to a diet lady. So I took my Apple Jerky recipe into her and she was not concern with any salt content. Being that by the amount meat I used in the marinade would break the portion ratio down per piece of meat. She told me I could have 4 ozs as an exchange for meat ratio that meal. I do all my jerky in a food deydrater will multi settings up to 165 degrees with a blower fan on it. It usually ran an average 1 hour per lb. Then I started sampleing for doneness. Just remember that jerky will continue to dry after you pull it out. When its close to what ya want then pull it I have made some shoe leather type jerky. So you can cut the salt out but cut back on the tender quick, if leave the cure out you can freeze it or fridge it for a couple weeks.
 
For what it's worth, my understanding is that relatively few people (maybe 15%) see any effect from salt intake on blood pressure. Either the body is regulating sodium levels or it isn't.

The problem AFAIK is that there is no simple test to tell if you are in the 15% or not -- my *guess* is that it involves monitoring blood test results while varying diet but not sure.
 
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