Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Premium Honey

Jedidiah's Jerky is a brand of Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, based out of Laughlin, NV.

The brand was created by David Coffey, who previously produced the River Run Jerky brand. Before that he was involved with Polley's Jerky, and has been in the jerky industry since 1984. He actually follows in his father's footsteps in the meat snacks biz.

The Jedidiah's brand is meant to represent various styles of jerky that appeal to a more discriminating jerky snacker. This Premium line represents the brand's standard jerky, while their Private Reserve line represents a soft and tender beef brisket jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, honey, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, garlic, sodium nitrite.

Taste

I get a sweet taste upon first putting a piece into my mouth. That's followed by the saltiness, and a black peppery taste as well. I can also get some garlic taste too. With some chewing, I can pick up some of the natural meat flavors.

Being advertised as a Honey variety, there is indeed a fair amount of sweetness in this, but it's not the dominant flavor. The saltiness and black pepper seems to get greater attention. Most of the sweetness comes off the surface of these pieces, when a piece first enters my mouth.

And while the saltiness is more defined than the sweet, I wouldn't call this "too salty". Even with 580mg of sodium per 1oz serving, a high amount, there's enough sweetness in it to offset any salt scorching.

The black pepper has a moderate flavor in this jerky. It's enough to be noticed, but doesn't leave a strong aftertaste in the back of my mouth. The garlic, likewise, is also just enough to be noticed, but won't leave you smelling like an Olive Garden restaurant.

The natural meat flavors are there, but not well distinguished. I can get more of the taste after letting a piece soften up in my mouth for several seconds, and then chewing.

There's also a very slight barbecue taste to this, perhaps a culmination of the honey, garlic, and paprika.

Overall, this jerky is packed with flavor, and a complex flavor with plenty of components to identify. It would be better to get more of the natural meat flavors, but I still enjoy the seasonings and marinade quite a bit.

Meat Consistency

This jerky appears to be slices of whole meat, cut into medium and thick slices, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's a dry jerky, with some pieces ranging from flexible to rigid. Some pieces can bend without breaking, while others break.

Some of the pieces are easy to tear apart, but others require some effort to pull apart and bite off. Chewing is maybe the same, but perhaps a little more easier.

There's a few small bits of fat that I can see, but otherwise nothing chewy in the way of tendon, gristle, or membrane.

Overall, this is a good meat consistency, just a little too tough in some pieces.




Product Value

Jedidiah's sells this Premium Honey variety from their website at a price of $5.99 for a 3.5oz bag. That works out to $1.71 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this has a great value because of its great taste, its flavor complexity, and its good meat consistency. I find it very snackable for these reasons, and can't help but reach for more.

As a honey variety, it has an "good" value, because it's still sweet enough to warrant the Honey advertisement, however the other flavorings come on strong and competes against it for attention. Most of the honey taste comes in the first several seconds. It's the salt and black pepper that dominates through the chew.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Premium Honey variety from Jedidiah's Jerky offers a wonderful flavor complexity, allowing a jerky lover to enjoy several different taste components, in a good meat consistency.

I'm only dinging it for being somewhat tough in about half of the pieces. The toughness can be mitigated by letting a piece soften up in your mouth before chewing. More than likely, the toughness/softness varies from package to package.

Otherwise, this jerky has a flavor that will keep jerky afficionados busy dissecting the flavors they're tasting.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.jedsjerky.com