Beef jerky is lean beef (Bos taurus) that has been trimmed of fat, sliced thin, marinated in a salty-sweet-savoury seasoning, and dried at low heat until it is shelf-stable, chewy and deeply concentrated. It is the ubiquitous American form of dried meat — a portable, high-protein snack sold everywhere from petrol stations to specialist smokehouses — usually darker and sweeter than air-dried cousins such as biltong.