What is "ch'arki"

Ch'arki ( Quechua for dried, salted meat, hispanicized spellings charque, charqui, charquí) is a form of jerky common in South America made from dried and salted meat, originally llama, nowadays mostly horse meat and beef. Llama is still widely used in Bolivia. This was a very popular way to preserve meat in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Brazil. It was industrialized in charqueadas, also named saladeros (in Argentina and Uruguay).

When encountered by the Spanish, the Inca Empire supplied tampu ( inns) along the Inca road system with llama ch'arki so that travelers would have something to eat. The Inca used a freeze drying process that took advantage of both the cold dry mountain air and strong sun in their homeland.

The Quechua word ch'arki is the origin of the word jerky.