Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy Teriyaki

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV.

The brand, which has been around since 2005, is the idea of David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky industry since 1984, having worked for several different brands. He created the Jedidiah's brand to represent a higher quality of beef jerky than most major brands, and to offer something unique and special to the beef jerky lover.

The "Private Reserve" line of beef jerky represents Jedidiah's beef brisket jerky, which results in a very soft and moist jerky. The brand also offers a "Premium" line, which represents standard beef jerky.

Ingredients

Beef brisket, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, chili peppers, pineapple juice, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, honey, pepper, ginger.

Taste

Upon putting a piece into my mouth, the very first taste that presents itself is a strong sweetness. A spicy hot bite from the chili peppers follows very quickly, as well as a saltiness.

Being advertised as "hot & spicy", it certainly lives up to that billing. I find it hot enough to moisten my scalp, and leave a good burn on my tongue. I'd rate this as being "hot". But after eating several pieces, my eyes are watering, my nose is running, and I'm having to reach for a swig of water after each swallow.

The package also advertises this as being a teriyaki variety, and there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this. But I think the teriyaki sauce is heavy on the sweet. This is more like "meat candy", than it is teriyaki flavored. But I can still sense the unique teriyaki flavoring that I think it does warrant the advertisement on the package.

The natural meat flavors are not well evident in this jerky, however. First, there's a lot of flavors competing for my attention, with the sweetness, the spiciness, and the saltiness. I let a piece sit in my mouth for several seconds, and extracted out the juices, but still couldn't really get a good sense of the meat flavors. There is indeed a "meat aroma" to this, but I can't really taste the unique beef flavors.

In terms of saltiness, this is definitely on the salty side. There is still plenty of sweetness to this that it offsets a lot of it, however.

Overall, this jerky is just brimming with flavor, with both the sweet, the spicy, and the saltiness dominating the taste throughout the chew. As a spicy variety, this will set your tongue on fire.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be slices of real beef brisket, sliced thin, and in strips of about 8-10 inches long, and 1 inch wide.

This is a soft and tender variety of jerky, being semi-moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. Some strips do provide a little more resistance to tearing, but still nothing that a toddler can't eat.

Being cut from beef brisket, I can see some fat marbilization, and I do get some chewy material, probably membrane and/or tendon. Otherwise, I found no gristle.

Overall, this jerky provides an excellent meat consistency.




Product Value

Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks sells this Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it offers a decent value, considering it's extremely flavorful, and very easy to eat.

But as a hot & spicy variety, it's a great value, because it's really hot and spicy. If you found other brands of hot jerky to be disappointingly mild, you'll be happy with this variety from Jed's.

Then as a teriyaki variety, it's a weak value. While there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this, it's heavy on the sugar side, and less on the soy sauce. And at a price of $2.19 per oz, you can find more teriyaki flavor in lesser priced brands.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from Jed's Private Reserve is packed with flavor, offering flavor combination of spicy hot chili pepper and sweet teriyaki, all in a very easy to eat meat consistency.

It also lives us to its advertised flavor, mostly as a hot & spicy variety, and less as a teriyaki variety. There's still plenty of teriyaki taste, but a heavily sweetened one, and one that is overshadowed by the chili pepper seasoning. While the saltiness is on the strong side, it's offset by the strong sweetness, and doesn't really wear you down.

While the natural meat flavors are very difficult to find in this, I still found the intense flavors to make this extremely snackable.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://jedsjerky.com