Thanks. You guys are very welcoming, and I appreciate it. I get annoyed at a couple of Facebook groups I’m on where people (tired of seeing the same questions over and over) are needlessly rude to newcomers – you should have been able to find that on your own in the group files! – and I’m delighted to see this group isn’t that way (even though I really should have been able to find what I was looking for on my own).

I’ve been making jerky for quite a while now. I usually come up with my own marinade when doing whole muscle, but I like to use commercial products with cure when I’m working with ground meat (and I like both kinds). I spent 34 1/2 years working for my hometown newspaper before taking a job with county government in March 2020. Back in the newsroom, I could always bring my jerky to share, and it was quite popular, but now I’m in an office by myself – I’m literally the only person on the second floor of the county courthouse, which no longer houses any actual judicial functions. So I’ve learned to divide the jerky up into smaller batches, vacuum seal them and keep them in the freezer. I was tickled to find Walton’s because the flavors sound great, and I was getting tired of some of the ones I used to use.