Next up in the series on Ed's Roadhouse Jerky is this Sweet & Spicy Apple Beef Jerky. See my previous reviews of Ed's Roadhouse Jerky.

Ed Herman has been making his Roadhouse brand of jerky for about 20 years now, with a specific focus on blending sweet with hot. All of his jerky is made to order, meaning that he doesn't keep packages of jerky sitting around waiting to ship. You order it, he makes it, he ships it out. For that matter Ed advises you to refrigerate your jerky as soon as you receive it.

This particular package of Sweet & Spicy Apple is said to be made with fresh apples, and has a "very unique flavor". I note the package I received is not vaccum sealed. I think it originally was vaccum sealed, but there must have been a tiny hole somewhere, because it's quite loose and airy.

Ingredients

Angus beef, fresh pepper blend, water, garlic salt, sugar, soy bean, wheat, salt, molasses, fresh apple, natural flavoring spices.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a moderate sweetness, followed by a light saltiness. I can pick up a slight spiciness.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased spiciness, a well-noticed natural meat flavor, and a light chile pepper flavor.

For being described as a "Sweet & Spicy Apple" variety of beef jerky, the apple is difficult to identify. I can taste something back there that I could point to as being apple, but if this jerky wasn't labeled "Apple" and I didn't know it contained apple, I wouldn't be able to tell this has an apple flavor.

But I think the "Sweet & Spicy" label is fitting. I do get a well-noticed sweetness, and a light spiciness.

As far as this jerky having a "very unique flavor", it actually reminds me of Ed's "Sweet Slow Burn" that I reviewed earlier, but with less burn. It would be nice to get another sample of Sweet Slow Burn to compare this with, to see how much taste the apple ingredient adds.

I say "light spiciness", but to others this could be received as moderately spiced. On my hot scale, I'd rate this as mild-medium. In addition to the light heat, I'm also tasting some chile pepper flavor.

The natural meat flavors are easily identified in this jerky and are quite enjoyable in my opinion. The meat is also marbilized with fat, and that adds to the flavor, giving it a more "beefy" flavor, like eating the outer portion from a cut of prime rib.

I can also taste some of the spices and flavorings in this jerky aside from chile pepper, such as a light garlic flavor, and peppery flavor like black pepper.

The level of saltiness in this seems moderate.

Overall, what you're going to notice the most in this jerky is the sweetness, followed by a light chile pepper heat, the natural meat flavors, and a light chile pepper flavor. The apple component is difficult to identify, there's something back there that seems to resemble apple, but just isn't well-defined.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in bite-sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. They have only a little bit of flexibility in that any amount of bending will cause a piece to crack apart. However, I wouldn't necessarily consider this brittle. Chewing seems easy overall.

The chewing texture starts out dry, yet pliable and easily breaks apart with just a bit of sucking and light chewing. It quickly chews down to a soft mass, and at that point it chews and feels like a piece of real meat, comparable to a steak cooked medium-well.

The meat in this beef jerky has a fair amount of marbilization, but no large chunks of fat. I don't see any gristle or tendon, and felt no stringy sinews nor felt any unchewable wads of tissue.

It's also pretty clean eating, leaving no residue on my fingers, and it's bite-sized pieces means not having to tear this apart and thus not getting any fragments flying




Snack Value

Ed's Roadhouse Jerky sells this Sweet & Spicy Apple from its website in a variety of package sizes. Considering it needs to be kept refrigerated, I'd recommend getting it in smaller packages. So if you bought four 4oz packages, with shipping out to Southern California, the total would cost $34.75 ($29.00 + $5.75). That works out to a price of $2.17 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.17 price per ounce, it seems to provide a good value. I'm getting a lot of snackability for it's good overall flavor, and easy eating. That $2.17 price is higher than grocery store jerky, but it's a much better jerky, and in fact much better than a lot of the gourmet brands out there too, and well worth the higher price.

As a "Sweet & Spicy Apple" variety of beef jerky, at the same $2.17 price per ounce, I think it's a decent value. The apple flavor is not easily recognizable, in that there's nothing in this that screams out "apple". But it's definitely sweet & spicy at a moderate level.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Sweet & Spicy Apple beef jerky from Ed's Roadhouse Jerky provides a moderate amount of sweet and spicy flavors, with a great tasting natural meat flavor, but doesn't seem to provide a well-defined apple flavor I was hoping to find. It does seem to provide a light flavor that resembles apple, but nothing that I can identify clearly as apple. If anything, the apple component adds a touch of body to the overall flavor.

On its own merits it's still a very good jerky, highlighted by that marbilized natural meat flavor that Ed's Roadhouse Jerky seems to be known for. The sweet & spicy flavors are well-noticed and very enjoyable. I got a light bit of chile pepper heat, and a fair amount of chile pepper flavor. And like all of Ed's jerky varieties, it's easy to eat and very snackable.

If anything, this Sweet & Spicy Apple variety reminds me of Ed's "Sweet & Slow Burn", but with less burn. In comparison with all the other gourmet brands of jerky I've had, this Sweet & Spicy Apple sits at the upper-tier in terms of taste, meat consistency, and snackability. I didn't award it the "best" rating because it didn't belt out that face-slapping "wow factor" which I reserve that rating for.

For a good beer pairing, I'd recommend a dark, but dry smoky porter, like Stone Smoked Porter, to help bring out the apple flavor.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.edsroadhousejerky.com/