@rodneycaudill Hey Rodney, glad they came out tasty, if you are looking for a dryer pepperoni the first thing I would do is try cutting the water a little. It’s the simplest way to make a less moist product. If that doesn’t work you could try dehydrating them after the thermal processing but I don’t recommend that as your first solution.

@rodneycaudill Been using pork for jerky for a while now and love it. I get the boneless loin and trim the tenderloin out of it and use. I slice it a good 1/4 inch thick. It tends to shrink to half its thickness when done… I like a oriental flavor fresh garlic and ginger work well and puree a few habeneros for some heat. I do a wet maranade and let it set for 36 hrs. and try not to get it overdone.

@rodneycaudill We make a lot of sticks and use a hydraulic stuffer, even with that stuffing into 17 or 19mm casings can be hard. We have stepped up to the 22mm collegen smoked casings. It’s so much easier for the cheese to pass through the tube and less stressful on the stuffer and whoever is cranking for you too. I shot my buddy with a cheese chuck that got stuck in the tube of the hydraulic stuffer, he was standing at the end of the table linking…he went down like a soccer player…lot of drama and I hear about it every time we do stick now…