About Fusion Jerky
KaiYen Mai was born into a family that spent nearly 50 years honing traditional Asian jerky, built around unique flavors and a soft, tender texture. Growing up in the Bay Area, she was inspired to fuse American flavors with the premier meat textures she knew from home. The idea for Fusion Jerky, the brand says, came to her on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, where protein carried her through a six-day hike. Control over quality mattered to her, so in 2012 she built her own processing facility in the rural town of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Months of testing and tweaking followed before she finalized eight flavors. Fusion Jerky launched in 2014.
What makes Fusion Jerky different
Fusion Jerky describes itself as a family-owned company making handcrafted Asian-style jerky fused with global flavors at its own ranch in Nebraska. The family tradition shows up most in texture: soft and tender is the house style, and several flavor pages reach for the phrase melt in your mouth. The Scottsbluff plant is a USDA facility the brand owns, built so KaiYen could oversee every step herself, and every flavor is marinated in a gluten-free soy sauce.
Fusion Jerky flavors we carry
Most of the beef runs sweet and savory rather than hot. If you want the clearest taste of the Asian side, start with the Japanese BBQ, marinated in soy sauce, salted mirin and sesame. Original Hickory balances hickory smoke flavor with a hint of sweetness, Grilled Steak is described as charred, savory and smoky, and Sweet Beef is the unusual one: a decades-old family recipe that braises tender cuts in strawberry puree. For heat, Sweet Heat starts sweet and builds slowly, while Chipotle Lime is the one the brand bills as its spiciest, with a citrus burst and a powerful kick. Browse the full beef jerky collection, or explore peppered beef jerky and sweet and spicy beef jerky.
The pork side leans tropical. Grilled Island Teriyaki is grilled pork, sourced only in the USA according to the brand, pitched as a sweet tropical escape; find it alongside the rest of our pork jerky. Everything currently in stock is in the grid above.
Who it's for
If you like your jerky soft and tender rather than tough, this brand was built for you. Heat seekers should go straight to Chipotle Lime and Sweet Heat; the rest of the lineup has no heat called out. The site states the jerky is gluten-free with no added MSG or preservatives, but every bag's Contains line lists soy, and the Japanese BBQ ingredient list also includes sesame oil and sesame seed. For a sweeter, fruit-forward bite, try the pork teriyaki or the strawberry-braised Sweet Beef.
JerkyBrands is an independent retailer; the Fusion Jerky name and logo are trademarks of their owner.