Most commercial jerky is way over salted. By doing it yourself you can control the amount. You do need some salt though. What it does is dehydrate any of the critters that try to grow on your meat. A friend Vlad by name has created what he calles a meat shake as part of his normal diet and as part of his food storage plans. Appearently he consummes them regularly. He grinds his homemade jerky into a powder.

meat shake
- one cup meat powder (=10 oz fresh meat, 50 protein grams)
- 1-1/2 oz vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon yellow curry
- 0ne pint filtered water........shake well..