Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Spicy Premium

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky is a relatively new brand of jerky, having been on the market for a few years now, produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, of Henderson, NV.

The company is owned by David Coffey, a veteran of the beef jerky business, having taken his first bite of the industry in 1984, when he went to work for Polley's Beef Jerky. His father was also a veteran of the jerky snack business as well. Later on Coffey launched his own brand of jerky, River Run Jerky, private labeled through Jack Link's.

But it was a desire to offer something unique to the beef jerky afficionado that led him to create the Jedidiah's brand. Jedidiah's Jerky offers two lines of jerky, its Premium line, which is standard beef jerky, and its Private Reserve, a beef brisket jerky.

Ingredients

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

Taste

There is a slight sweetness that makes itself known right away after putting a piece into my mouth. That sweetness is soon overtaken by a strong saltiness. The natural meat flavors come in short after, and I can also detect the garlic at this point. Finally I can feel a slight tinge of hot in the back of my mouth.

There's quite a bit of saltiness in this. It's not too bad in the first few pieces, but after that it starts to scorch my tongue. Eventually, the saltiness is what dominates this jerky.

As far as being a spicy variety, I'd say that it does indeed have a spicy kick to it, but I won't consider this "hot". This is more like mild-medium. Others might see this as just medium.

There are visible bits of black pepper on this, and bits of chile pepper. However, I don't really taste the black pepper or chile pepper on any specific piece, but I do feel its effects after eating several pieces.

The natural meat flavors are noticeable, but are overshadowed by the other flavors, particularly the salt.

Overall, this is a very tasty jerky, with a lot of flavors competing for attention, and competing all the way throughout the chew. It's got a taste that resembles barbecue, which may be due to the garlic. But it's mainly the salt that gets the most notice.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be solid pieces of meat, sliced into small and medium sized pieces, and in medium to thick slices. Note that there are a lot "crumbles" in the bottom of the bag.

I found this jerky to be on the dry side, though still somewhat soft. It has some flexibility in that you can bend to a point, but will crack open and break apart if bent too far.

It offers some ease in tearing apart, particularly with the grain, and I found it somewhat easy to chew as well.

I didn't really find any pieces of chewy tendon or gristle in here, though I did find some small bits of fat on a couple of pieces.

Overall, the meat consistency is very good, being easy to tear apart and chew. The considerable amount of crumbles is something to note because what you want are pieces large enough to hold in your hand and tear apart.




Product Value

Jedidiah's sells this Premium Spicy 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.

I think this provides a good value, in that you're getting a very tasty jerky, with a flavor that lasts throughout the chew, all in a good meat consistency. It has good snackability, and for or snacking purposes, that's what this offers.

As a "spicy" variety, it provides some value, but not a lot. I think that if a spicy-food lover saw this package, they'd consider buying it just because it said, "Spicy" on the label. However, they'll be somewhat disappointed because it's not really that spicy.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Premium Spicy variety from Jedidiah's Jerky offers a lot of taste packed into an easy to eat meat consistency, making it very snackable. It offers a just enough of a spicy kick to tease your taste-buds, and even tastes something similar to barbecue.

What kept it from getting a higher rating is the saltiness. Just too much for my liking. I find that it's great in the first few pieces, but after that the saltiness wears on me.

And while it is indeed a spicy variety, it's just not spicy enough for my liking. I think when a jerky is advertised as "Spicy" it ought to be really spicy. I think that either you like it spicy, or you don't, with no in-between. So, why not really belt out the spiciness and make something spicy food lovers can rave about?

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.jedsjerky.com