Friday, August 8, 2008

Green Light Beef Jerky - Jamaican Jerk

Green Light Beef Jerky - Jamaican JerkGreen Light Beef Jerky is a new brand of jerky that's been out for a couple of years now, produced by Green Light Jerky Company, of Redwood City, CA.

The company claims that it's products uses no nitrites, no MSG, no thickening agents, and no food colorings. Their website mentions the use of ingredients from such reputable suppliers such as The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley and George Chiala Farms in Morgan Hill.

Green Light Beef Jerky is available in stores and sports venues throughout northern California, and appears to be marketed towards the 20 and 30-something year olds.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, honey, water, garlic, onion, spices, habanero pepper.

The package further mentions "w/ allspice, habanero pepper, and thyme".

Taste

There is an abundance of flavors that presents itself upon first tasting a piece. I'm getting a clear sense of the thyme and soy sauce right away, along with the garlic, onion, and a sweetness, perhaps from the honey. After some chewing, I can get the natural meat flavors.

Considering this contains habanero pepper, just how hot is this? Not very hot at all. I do feel a "hotness" to this, but I'd rate it as mild-medium.

The natural meat flavors come out very well in this.

As for being a "Jamaican Jerk" style of jerky, I don't have enough experience with Jamaican style cuisine so I can't evaluate it as such. But I can tell you that this is a spicy variety, not so much that it's hot, but just a lot of spice flavorings.

In terms of saltiness, the saltiness is noticeable from the soy sauce, but I don't see each particular piece as being too salty. However, through several pieces that saltiness does build up, and I can feel a salt-burn on the tip of my tongue.

Overall, this has a great taste, and plenty of it. I really like the thyme in this. I'd say, however, that it's the soy sauce that dominates the flavor from start to finish, followed by the natural meat flavors, and the thyme. The rest of the taste is a complex variety of spices and a tinge of burn on the back of the tongue.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be slices of real meat, sliced thin, and in strips of about 5-6 inches in length.

This is a dry jerky, and very dry at that. For the most part it retains its flexibility if bent against the grain without breaking, though some pieces will break a little.

I found some pieces to be rather tough to tear apart, even with the grain. And then I found other pieces that tore apart with the grain very easily. Against the grain is similar, with some being very tough, and others being brittle enough that I could bite and tear off easily.

Chewing is similar, with some being rather tough to eat, and others being easy. But you'll want to suck on a piece for a while to enjoy the flavors anyways.

These strips are very lean, I don't really see any fat, found no gristle, but I did notice some pieces having some chewy bits of tendon or membrane.

Green Light Beef Jerky - Jamaican Jerk

Green Light Beef Jerky - Jamaican Jerk

Product Value

Green Light Jerky sells this Jamaican Jerk variety from its website at a price of $5.00 for a 2oz bag. That works out to a price of $2.50 per ounce, making this an expensive jerky.

For that price, I'd say that this offers a "so-so" value. It's still has enough value to it because it offers a unique taste, with its combination of thyme, Jamaican Jerk spices, and that slight tinge of burn. If you're a beef jerky lover, you'll definitely want to try this at least once, and in that sense it has some value to it.

Otherwise, for the high price, I'd expect a jerky that's easier to eat.

Rating

Green Light Beef Jerky - Jamaican JerkI'm giving this a "good" rating.

It's the unique taste combination of thyme, Jamaican Jerk spices, and habanero pepper, that really makes this beef jerky wake up my senses. Then the soy sauce, garlic, and natural meat flavors seem to take over and lasts throughout the chew. This complex abundance of flavors gives it a wonderful snackability that makes it hard for me to resist.

I just found the meat consistency to be too tough to give it the top-of-the-line five-star rating. Even while some of the pieces were easy to tear apart and chew, I found just as many that were tough. The easier-to-eat pieces was like beef jerky heaven, but the tough pieces detracts from my overall enjoyment.

Still, this is a jerky that all jerky afficionados ought to try, just to experience something different.

Rating: Good

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1 comment:

  1. all the flavors seem to taste the same because of the soy sauce and the price seems like a total rip

    ReplyDelete