Country Archer: Making Meat Snacks Healthy Again

Jerky is a meat preservation technique with a long and storied history, dating back to the Quechua people of the Incan empire. In fact, the word “jerky” comes from the Quechua word “charqui,” which translates to dried meat.

But as the centuries passed, jerky became low-quality gas station meat sticks like Slim Jims and Jack Links, with questionable ingredients and additives, including mechanically separated chicken, corn syrup, and artificial colors. 

Fortunately, recent years have seen an uptick in the desire for high-quality jerky that is free of all the junk—like Country Archer, the fifth-largest jerky company in the United States. 

With 100% grass-fed and finished beef, whole food ingredients, and low (or no) sugar, Country Archer is leading the pack (er, herd?). They offer high-quality beef jerky and meat sticks that you can trust. And not to mention, it’s absolutely delicious!

Introducing the Future of Meat Snacks

At Expo West 2024, our team interviewed Country Archer VP of Marketing Andrew Thomas, who told us all about how they are disrupting the category of meat snacks.

As Andrew puts it, “It’s a tried and true category—people eat it on road trips, but now there are options like Country Archer that are cleaner ingredient labels, lower in sugar, with grass-fed beef, that also provide that protein that you’re looking for.”

More and more people are realizing that just because something has protein doesn’t mean it’s healthy—the ingredient list also has to be up to par. 

With minimal ingredients, less sugar than other jerkies, and absolutely no preservatives, added nitrates, nitrites, or artificial flavorings, Country Archer meat snacks fit the bill. They’re also Certified Gluten-Free and Certified Keto. 

Grass-fed beef is also a step up above your conventional jerky. 

According to Andrew, there are three main benefits to using grass-fed beef:

• Better texture: It’s easier to eat, with less of that “rip and tear” experience that may or may not break a tooth often seen with other jerky. 
• More omega-3’s: The primary fatty acids that are higher in grass-fed beef include conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and the omega-3 fats alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Higher levels of CLA and omega-3s in grass-fed meat may contribute to improved cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive health. 
• No hormones: No growth hormones are better for the animals and better for the humans that end up eating them. 

But how can brands like Country Archer produce such high-quality jerky and meat sticks without using preservatives or nitrites?

As Andrew explains, “We try to maintain that small batch craft mentality. You take the beef rounds, marinate the beef rounds, thinly slice it, then slowly cook it to dry it out to get that beautiful beef jerky texture, chop it up, and put it in a bag.” 

It sounds like a simple enough process, but the magic is in how they season, marinate, and really care for their meat products. So, what exactly does Country Archer have to offer? Let’s take a look.

What’s on the Menu at Country Archer?

Country Archer has several grass-fed beef jerky flavors, turkey jerky, and two flavors of beef sticks. Here’s what you can find in a handful of them:

• Original Grass-Fed Beef Jerky: You can’t go wrong with this tried-and-true staple. With 9g of protein and 4g of sugar per serving, this is a high-quality snack that provides high-quality protein. The seasonings include tamari (a gluten-free soy sauce), organic brown sugar, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, and more.
• Teriyaki Grass-Fed Beef Jerky: This delicious jerky contains 10g of protein and 5g of sugar per serving. Its ingredients include tamari sauce, organic seasoned rice vinegar, and organic Worcestershire sauce.
• Zero-Sugar Grass-Fed Beef Jerky: Yep, you read that right—zero sugar! Although that’s unheard of in the jerky world, Country Archer did it (and with no artificial sweeteners). You’ll find some unique ingredients like organic chickpea miso, chickpeas, and mushrooms in this jerky—plus 12g of protein per serving.
• Grass-Fed Jalapeno Beef Sticks: Beef sticks are even more portable than jerky, ready to eat immediately. With 8g of protein per stick, you can’t go wrong with this snack.

Other products include Original Beef Sticks, Hatch Chile Beef Jerky, Hickory Smoke Turkey Jerky, Zero Sugar Mustard BBQ Beef Jerky, Fuego Beef Jerky, and Mango Habanero Beef Jerky.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with any Country Archer product—they’ve certainly got the TNI stamp of approval.

We’ll let Andrew close it out—as he puts it, “If you want something truly high protein and truly low sugar, you’re really not going to do any better.” We couldn’t agree more!