'Charqui' or charque, is a form of
jerky common in
South America made from dried and salted
meat, usually from
horse, but also
beef. The word is a Spanish
calque of the English
jerky.
When encountered by the
Spanish, llama jerky (the meat used was from the
llama) was being used by the
Inca Empire to store meat in
tambo (
inns) along the
Inca road system so that travelers could eat meat when between cities. The Inca used a
freeze drying process that took advantage of both the cold dry mountain air and strong sun in their homeland.
See also
★
Charque