10 Things You Didn't Know About Beef Jerky

Beef jerky is an incredibly popular snack food, and while it may be high in sodium, it's lean and full of protein. We're experiencing somewhat of a jerky renaissance these days, with companies like Jack Link's and Matador being joined by more out-of-the-box companies like Krave, which was recently purchased by Hershey's and sells jerky in flavors like chili lime and pineapple orange. Here are 10 things you might not know about this popular snack. 

Beef jerky was invented around 1550 by the Quechua people, who are native to South America.

Jerky's first purpose was to provide a way for Native Americans to bring protein-rich food on long journeys.

The word jerky is an Anglicization of the Native American term charqui, which means "dried meat."

NASA has been sending astronauts into space with jerky since 1996. 

Jerky can be made with just about any protein, and is available in turkey, pork, salmon, elk, moose, and many more varieties.

In 2009, an explosion at a ConAgra manufacturing facility created a shortage of Slim Jim products nationwide.

In Ethiopia, jerky is known as qwant'a.

Meat snacks and jerky is an estimated $2.5 billion category in the United States, and it continues to grow.

Called coppiette, Roman jerky was traditionally horse or donkey meat, but is now usually made from pork. Seasoned with red pepper and fennel, it's popular in Roman osterias. 

Each 30-gram serving of jerky starts out as 90 grams of meat.