Jonathon
Wow, this is really awesome content, appreciate the work you guys did on this! I’ve spent the past year trying to replicate the really tender brands like “KRAVE”. I think my issue has always been misunderstanding the concepts of water activity vs. moisture content, and this was very eye opening.

I’ve done a couple tests using your method with pretty good results. I don’t have a humidity-controlled oven, so have been adding a pan of water to my oven and putting dehydrator trays inside. Not perfect, but the humidity step definitely helps.

As you mention, the final product is left with a tacky exterior. Any thoughts on how to minimize this? I’ve noticed a lot of brands use “cane sugar” instead of brown sugar, I will try giving that a shot. Maybe use some phosphates instead of sugar to increase the water holding capacity?

Also, I was wondering if you’ve ever experimented with using celery powder/juice as your nitrite? I really want to perfect an all-natural jerky, but am uncertain where to start when it comes to processing and quantifying nitrite levels in celery.

Really happy I stumbled upon your site, thank you!
Max