Name: Spiny POM Deer Jerky
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 270 min
Total time: 300 min
Ingredients: 1 lb Venison or Beef Roast; 1/2 cup pomegranate juice; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 3 tbsp brown sugar; 1/2 tsp ginger powder; 1 1/2 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp black pepper (freshly cracked); 1/4 tsp curing salt (optional)

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I've been on a pomegranate juice kick lately, it's just SO good! Sweet and tart and extremely refreshing... Well, with anything good I eat or drink, I try to incorporate it into a jerky recipe. That's the only logical thing to do...

Did you know that pomegranates grow on spiny branches of a shrub like tree and are mainly found in the middle east, Asia, and north Africa? I didn't either until I did a little bit of research. The USA grows some in Arizona and California.

The juice I buy is made from California pomegranates. Support your local economy and businesses!

Slicing The Meat

Hunting season has come and past and your freezer should be full of venison just ready to be made into jerky! If you aren't a hunter or were skunked this year, don't fret, beef would would great as well!

Defrost your venison roasts in a bowl of cold water that is placed in the refrigerator. Make sure to defrost any meat in the refrigerator and NOT on your kitchen counter. Submerging the meat in water will speed up the thawing process immensely.

After thawing and rinsing the deer roast, trim as much fat and silver skin as you can from the meat. Fat spoils faster than meat and will shorten the shelf life of the finished jerky.

I sliced the deer roast by hand with a very sharp knife. If you do not have a really sharp knife, wrap the roast in saran wrap and put the meat back in the freezer for 1-2 hours to partially freeze/harden the meat so slicing evenly sized strips is easier. Visit my how to slice jerky page for more information on slicing meat for the perfect jerky.

If the roast has a good amount of blood in the package and has a game aroma, soak the meat in cold water and salt solution to remove that ‘gamey’ flavor from the meat. Use 1 cup of salt and about 5 cups of water.

Using a jerky slicer is another great option. I like using my Weston Jerky Slicer to cut the beef and deer roasts into jerky strips.

This jerky slicer is not needed to slice the meat, but it makes it a lot easier!

RELATED PAGE: DOZENS OF JERKY RECIPES – CLICK HERE!!!

Making The Marinade

The star of the show here is the pomegranate juice, it just gives this jerky such a great flavor. I like drinking and therefor used POM wonderful juice in this recipe. The other ingredients are pretty common and you might already have them at home.

Start by combining all of the ingredients in a ziplock bag or plastic container. Easy, easy, easy...

Once you have the marinade mixed together, add the deer or beef slices to the mixture and mix well making sure all of the strips are covered with marinade.

Marinate in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours mixing the strips in the bag every 4 hours or so to make sure the strips marinate evenly. By mixing the strips every so often you ensure that all the jerky pieces will have a consistent flavor.

You can actually see below where some strips of meat are still red, I did NOT do a good job of mixing the meat while it marinated so some strips will lack maximum flavor.

Strain the strips in a colander and discard any left over marinade. Do not re-use marinade if wanting to make another batch, start with fresh ingredients.

After straining the jerky strips, lay them on paper towels and pat the strips dry to remove any excess marinade. Doing this will help speed up the drying process.

After patting the strips dry, place the jerky strips into a dehydrator, oven, or smoker. I used my Nesco Dehydrator when making this recipe. Make sure the pieces of meat are not touching and have space for air to flow around each piece.

I dried this spiny pom deer jerky at 160F for about 4 1/2 hours. The texture was spot on and nice and chewy!

You can also use an oven or smoker to make this recipe. For step by step instructions on how to use a dehydrator, oven, and smoker to make jerky; make sure to visit my How to Make Jerky page.

Testing For When The Jerky Is Finished

While drying the jerky, you want to start testing to see if it has finished at about the 3-4 hour mark. Take a piece of jerky out of the dehydrator, oven, or smoker and allow it to cool for 5 minutes to room temperature.

Bend the jerky in half, it should bend and crack but not break in half.

You can see the white fibers in the meat as well. This is a sure sign that the jerky is finished drying and ready to eat!

If the jerky is not finished, continue drying for another hour and repeat the same process until the jerky is finished. 90% of the jerky i make is finished within 4-6 hours when using a dehydrator or oven and 6-9 hours when using a smoker. If pre-heating the meat in the oven, drying time can be as little as 2.5 hours.

This Pomegranate deer jerky turned out tasting fantastic. The fruity sweet flavor goes well with the deer flavor. I make so much spicy jerky that it's refreshing to have a fruity jerky every once in a while!

Storing Jerky

To make the jerky last as long as possible, curing salt will really help along with keeping in air tight containers. I have put together a page on storing jerky and steps you can take to make your jerky have an extended shelf life. Check it out!

Old Pro Tips:

Trim all fat from the meat before marinating for longer lasting jerky once it’s finished drying
Use curing salt or celery juice powder to extend the life of the jerky
Pre-soak venison for a couple hours in 5 cups water and 1 cup salt to remove ‘gamey’ flavor
Freeze meat before slicing to make even strips

For more in depth directions on how to dry your jerky, visit my page Jerky Making Methods.