Beef jerky flowers make for a fun, creative, and delicious gift for any occasion. These edible bouquets are made by shaping strips of jerky into flower petals and attaching them to jerky sticks as the stems
Overview of Beef Jerky Flowers
A beef jerky flower bouquet is definitely not your typical flower arrangement, which makes it more memorable. The process of crafting jerky flowers is enjoyable and crafty. You can’t eat fresh flowers, but you can snack on these after admiring their beauty. They are perfect for manly gifts rather than traditional roses. You can make beef jerky flowers at home for a fraction of the cost of real flowers from a florist. Unlike real blooms, beef jerky flowers won’t wilt after a week.
Why Make Beef Jerky Flowers?
Here are some of the main advantages of gifting beef jerky bouquets:
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Unique – Beef jerky flowers are an unconventional gift that will be remembered
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Fun – Making the edible flowers is a creative and enjoyable activity.
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Delicious – You can’t eat normal flowers, but you can snack on jerky blooms
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Manly – Great masculine alternative to floral roses for guy gifts.
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Affordable – Making them at home costs much less than florist’s flowers.
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Lasting – Beef jerky flowers won’t wilt for 1-2 weeks after arranging.
Ingredients and Supplies Needed
To make 3-5 beef jerky flowers, you’ll need:
- 1 pack of jerky slabs or strips (about 6-8 oz total)
- 3-4 large jerky sticks for the stems
- Floral cookie cutters or flower templates
- Kitchen shears or sharp knife
- Toothpicks
- Twine, wire, or hot glue
- Jar, can, or vase for arranging
Look for quality jerky without lots of preservatives or additives. The slabs used for petals can be any flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Follow these steps to shape jerky into beautiful edible flowers:
1. Cut Out the Flower Petal Shapes
Use a flower-shaped cookie cutter to cut petals out of a jerky slab. A knife works too if you don’t have cookie cutters.
2. Refine the Petal Shapes
Trim the petals with scissors or a knife to refine the shape. Make sure each has a defined heart-shaped tip.
3. Poke a Hole Near the Base of Each Petal
Use a toothpick to poke a small hole near the base of each petal. This is where you’ll attach it to the stem.
4. Wrap the Petals Around the Jerky Stick Stem
Place the petals around the jerky stick stem and secure them with twine, wire, or hot glue.
5. Attach Leaves Around the Flower Base
Cut leaf shapes from jerky scraps. Use toothpicks to attach them around the base of the flower.
6. Arrange the Blooms in a Vase or Jar
Add multiple jerky flower stems to complete the bouquet. Display them in a vase, jar, or can.
The petals and leaves will naturally curl a bit to resemble realistic flowers once secured onto the stems. Follow these steps with different shaped cookie cutters to create all kinds of edible flower arrangements.
How to Make Specific Jerky Flower Types
You can make all sorts of flower varieties with jerky using the basic method above. Here are some tips for specific types:
Beef Jerky Roses
- Cut petals into rose shapes with the cookie cutter.
- Wrap the petals around the stem, layering from largest on bottom to smallest on top.
- Gently bend petal ends outward to open the flower.
- Add leaves sparingly around the base since roses don’t have many.
Beef Jerky Tulips
- Cut petals into tulip shapes with the cutter.
- Overlap petals around the stem, going from big to small.
- Bend petal tips outward to open the bloom.
- Use minimal leaves at the base as tulips don’t have a lot.
Beef Jerky Orchids
- Cut wide teardrop shapes for main petals and thinner delicate petals.
- Layer main petal on stem, with thin petals cascading downward.
- Orchids often have triangular upward pointing leaves.
Get Creative with Your Own Jerky Flower Designs
Once you understand the basics, feel free to get creative with the flower shapes, varieties, and bouquet designs:
- Make different flower types like daisies, lilies, sunflowers, etc.
- Mix and match multiple flower types in one bouquet.
- Shape tiny filler flowers from jerky scraps and toothpicks.
- Add curls, ruffles or snips to the petal edges with scissors.
- Use food coloring spray or markers to tint petals.
- Glue on googly eyes or candy decorations.
- Display in mason jars, beer mugs, or other fun vessels.
Storing and Displaying Jerky Flowers
Follow these tips to keep your jerky bouquets looking their best:
- Store freshly made arrangements covered in the fridge up to 5 days.
- Let them come to room temperature 1-2 hours before gifting.
- Consider using floral foam in the vase to hold stems in place.
- Mist with vodka to add shine and prevent drying out.
- They’ll last 1-2 weeks sitting out on the counter.
Gifting Your DIY Beef Jerky Bouquet
Your homemade jerky flowers make a memorable gift for your loved ones. Have fun being creative with the flower types, designs, and display vessels. Beef jerky bouquets are a unique twist on traditional floral arrangements!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a jerky bouquet?
A jerky bouquet is a flower arrangement made from beef jerky rather than traditional flowers. Strips of jerky are cut into flower shapes and attached to jerky sticks as the stems to create edible blooms.
How long do beef jerky flowers last?
Properly stored in the refrigerator, beef jerky flowers can last up to 5 days. At room temperature, they’ll last about 1-2 weeks before drying out too much.
What’s a good jerky for making flowers?
Look for a jerky slab or thick strip that can be easily cut into shapes. Avoid crumbly shredded types of jerky. Quality jerky without preservatives is best.
Can you eat beef jerky flowers?
Yes! Beef jerky flowers are completely edible. That’s one of the perks over real flowers. Feel free to snack on the petals and leaves after you gift or display them.
Are beef jerky flowers expensive?
Making DIY jerky flowers at home is much cheaper than buying pre-made bouquets. Buying quality jerky can be pricy, but overall it’s an affordable gift.
So get creative with your own homemade beef jerky floral arrangements! They make a tasty, crafty, and unique gift for any jerky lover.
How To: Beef Jerky Bouquet & Valentine Napkin Fold
My husband is always a pain to shop for around Valentine’s Day. As I’ve mentioned before, he doesn’t like sweets very much. To make matters worse, right now he’s on a diet. I had to get very creative with his gift this year, and that’s when I stumbled upon beef jerky bouquets.
Have you heard of these? They’re amazing. Intricate flowers made out of various types of jerky. I saw a perfect bunch here but was shocked at the price. Jerky is expensive, I understand that, and bouquets take a lot of jerky, but I just couldn’t justify $70 plus for a Valentine’s treat.
Rather than give up on the idea entirely, or settle on the less exciting non-flower version, I buckled down and got to work on my own version.
Now, I’m not going to lie to you and say mine looks just as good as the name brand—it doesn’t! But I think with practice, I’ll improve. And with the amount I saved on this bouquet, I’ll be able to practice making it many times over.
Cutting to the chase—my husband loved these flowers. He is such a fan of jerky and thought the flowers were a really cool idea. He loved that I put them in a new pint glass. If I had really been thinking ahead, I would’ve gotten a personalized one from online. I think the ribbons and hearts worked just fine in a pinch, though.
I gave it to him during a romantic dinner, the setup for which I fell in love with. While I could have used the jerky bouquet for our centerpiece, I couldn’t resist those red roses when I saw them in the market. They’re what inspired the rest of the table. Deep reds, bright golds—it all just screams Valentine’s Day.
How adorable are those envelope napkins? I got the idea from an I saw somewhere on the internet. I thought they looked like little Valentine’s on the plates. I’ve included a tutorial below for those, as well.
If you’ve stumbled upon this post, you aren’t here for the pitch—you’re already intrigued by jerky bouquets. I’ll cut this intro short and get into it, then.
Items Needed
About 6 oz. of beef jerky (any flavor)*
About 4 Slim Jim Giant Sticks
Flower shaped cookie cutter
Sharp knife or kitchen scissors
Vase or beer glass
Directions
- Cut out flower shapes using a cookie cutter, and if necessary, use a sharp knife or scissors to completely cut out the desired shape.
- Cut out center pieces of the flowers, circles.
- Measure jerky sticks, which will be the stems, against the height of the vase or glass you’re using.
- Pierce the center of a jerky flower using the tip of the knife, making sure to go all the way through. Do the same with the center circle, but DO NOT go all the way through—stop about halfway through.
- Insert a toothpick all the way through the jerky flower, leaving a small bit sticking out one end. Set the circle center on the small bit sticking out.
- Attach the flower to the stem base using the large bit of remaining toothpick.
- Cut leaf shapes from jerky. Use a toothpick to attach to stem base.
- Any excess toothpick sticking out from the leaves, sever using a dowel cutter. As a note, I purposely left toothpick visible on the leaves so my husband wouldn’t be able to find and easily remove it—you don’t want anyone choking on Valentine’s Day!
- Arrange jerky flowers in vase or beer glass. Use scrap jerky pieces to stabilize the stems along the bottom of the glass.
- Optional, decorate with ribbons and hearts.
- Give to your Valentine and wait for a great, big thank you!
It’s very easy, and you don’t need a lot of practice to pump these babies out. All in, I think it took me an hour start to finish to make this bouquet. I had wished I had gotten more jerky to make more flowers, but I had to remember that these flowers have about 8 oz. of jerky in them!
In the end, it was one of the easiest treats I’ve made my husband for Valentine’s Day, and he told me it was his favorite.
*I used chunked beef jerky, which is pretty easy to find in most stores. There are slabs of beef jerky available online, though, which would probably be easier to use.
Check out the rest of the tutorials below!
Valentine Card Napkin Fold
Step 1: Take 1 slab of beef jerky and trim the corners to make a large oval shape.
Now we dont claim to be architects, but we do know a bit about our Classic Big Slab line and that it serves as a solid structure for the jerky rose petals that scream “Happy Valentines Day!”
Thin, tough, and handmade, each jerky slab can be molded and manipulated into the form of a flower.
Based on your Valentines flavor palette, youll be able to choose from three different flavors – Original, Teriyaki, and Hot & Spicy.